nn 


LIFE 


SAMUEL  JOHNSON,  D.D. 

THE  FIRST  PRESIDENT  OF  KING'S  COLLEGE,  IN  NEW  YORK. 


CONTAININU 

MANY  INTERESTING  ANECDOTES;  A  GENERAL  VIEW  OF  THE  STATE  OF  RELIGION  AND 

LEARNING  IN   CONNECTICUT  DURING   THE    FORMER    PART  OF  THE  LAST 

CENTURY;  AND  AN  ACCOUNT  OF  THE  INSTITUTION  AND  RISE  OF  YALS 

COLLEGE*  CONNECTICUT;  AND  OF  KING'S  (NOW  COLUMBIA) 

COLLEGE,  NEW  YORK. 

BY 

THOMAS  BRADBURY  CHANDLER,  D.D. 

Formerly  Rector  of  St.  John's  Church,  Elizabeth  Town,  New  Jersey. 


TO  WHICH  IS  ADDED  AN  APPENDIX, 
CONTAINING  MANY  ORIGINAL  LETTERS,  NEVER  BEFORE  PUBLISHED, 

FROM 

BISHOP  BERKELEY,    I   ARCHBISHOP  SECKER, 
BISHOP  LOWTH,         |  and  OTHERS, 

to  DR.  JOHNSON. 


Intcresse  etiain  Rcipublicaz  cxistimo,  ut  cxempla  talium  Virorum  Litcris  mandentur,  et 
ad  aliorum  sive  imitationem  sivc  admonitionem  sivc  opprobium  proponantur. 

Dr.  J3c?itham,de  Vita  ct  Moribus  J.  Burtoni. 


YORK: 

PRINTED   BY   T.   &   J.  SWORDS,   PEARL  STREET. 

Honlrott : 
RE-l'RINTED  TOR  C.  AND  J.  RIV1NGTON, 

ST.  PAUL'S  CHURCH- YARD,  AND  WATERLOO-PLACE,    PALL-MALL, 

1824. 


>NDON: 

PRINTED  BY  R.  GILBERT, 
ST.  JOHN'S-SQUARE. 


ADVERTISEMENT 

TO  THE 

ENGLISH  EDITION. 

THE  American  Edition  of  this  Volume 
was  published  under  the  superintendance 
of  the  Right  Rev.  Bishop  Hobart  of  New 
York,  as  Editor,  into  whose  hands,  from 
his  connexion  with  the  family  of  Dr. 
Chandler,  the  original  manuscript  had 
fallen.  It  is  now  republished  in  England 
at  the  suggestion  of  several  individuals, 
who  conceive  that  it  affords  an  interesting 
account  of  the  rise  and  progress  of  the 
Episcopal  Church  in  a  portion  of  the 
United  States,  and  exhibits,  at  the  same 
time,  the  lively  interest  which  was  taken 
in  its  welfare,  by  distinguished  Prelates  of 
the  Church  of  England. 


385 


THE 


LIFE 


OF 


DR.  SAMUEL  JOHNSON. 


DR.  SAMUEL  JOHNSON,  the  first  President  of 
King's  College,  in  New  York,  was  born  at  Guil- 
ford,  in  Connecticut,  October  14,  1696.  His  fa- 
ther Samuel,  and  his  grandfather  William,  were 
both  persons  of  reputation,  and  successively 
Deacons  of  the  church  in  that  town,  which  was 
formed  on  the  congregational  plan,  at  that  time 
almost  universally  received  throughout  the 
New  England  colonies.  His  great-grandfather 
Robert,  came  from  Kingston  upon  Hull,  in 
Yorkhire,  and  was  one  of  the  first  settlers  of 
New  Haven,  about  the  year  1637.  He  was  pro- 
bably of  the  same  family  with  Johnson,  the 
associate  of  Robert  Brown,  the  father  of  the 
Brownists. 

SAMUEL  JOHNSON,  the  subject  of  this  memoir, 
was  taught  to  read,  when  very  young  by  his 

u 


2  LIFE  OF  DR.  JOHNSON". 

grandfather,  who  was  uncommonly  fond  of  him, 
as  he  appeared  to  be  a  child  of  a  remarkably  fine 
genius  and  disposition.  Before  he  was  six  years 
old,  at  which  time  his  grandfather  died,  he  was 
observed  to  have  an  inquisitive  turn,  and  to  dis- 
cover an  eager  curiosity  to  see  and  learn  all 
that  could  be  shown  or  taught  him.  At  this  early 
period,  meeting  with  a  book  in  which  there  were 
some  Hebrew  words,  he  was  impatiently  desirous 
of  knowing  their  meaning  ;  but,  to  his  great  mor- 
tification, he  found  none  who  were  able  to  in- 
form him.  He  was  only  told,  that  these  words 
belonged  to  the  language  that  was  used  by 
Moses  and  the  Prophets,  and  in  which  the  Old 
Testament  was  originally  written.  From  this 
time  he  became  easnestly  desirous  of  learning 
Hebrew ;  and  after  he  was  acquainted  with  it, 
it  afforded  him  peculiar  pleasure  through  the 
whole  of  his  life.  In  consequence  of  such  pro- 
mising symptoms,  his  grandfather  proposed  that 
he  should  be  educated  in  the  college  then  about 
to  be  erected  in  the  colony. 

Upon  the  old  gentleman's  death,  however,  the 
father  seems  to  have  dropt  that  design  for  a  con- 
siderable time  ;  but  after  a  trial  of  four  or  five 
years,  finding  that  his  son's  fondness  for  books 
was  unconquerable,  and  that  it  was  impossible 
to  reconcile  him  to  the  thoughts  of  any  other 


LIFE  OF  DR.  JOHNSON.  3 

business,  he  at  length  determined  to  comply  with 
what  was  fully  discovered  to  be  his  natural  dis- 
position. 

The  school  in  Guilford  at  that  time  was  kept 
by  Mr.  Eliot,  a  man  of  parts,  and  afterwards 
of  much  eminence  in  the  country,  of  whom  the 
reader  will  hear  frequently  in  the  sequel.  To 
this  school  young  Johnson  was  sent,  in  the 
eleventh  year  of  his  age,  where  he  made  great 
progress  in  Latin,  and  was  happy  in  his  master's 
affection.  But  unfortunately  for  him,  before  the 
year  expired,  Mr.  Eliot  left  the  school,  and 
settled  at  Killingworth  as  a  preacher:  so  that 
with  an  impatience  to  learn,  which  had  been  in- 
creased by  this  promising  beginning,  he  was 
left  without  an  instructor.  After  a  while  he  was 
sent  to  North  Middletown,  and  put  under  the 
care  of  the  Minister  of  the  place ;  but  this  man 
was  so  wretchedly  qualified  for  the  business  of 
instructing,  and  was  so  ignorant  of  Latin,  that 
his  pupil  could  learn  from  him  little  or  nothing. 
Dr.  Johnson  often  lamented  his  loss  of  time  here, 
at  such  a  season  of  life ;  although  the  whole 
amounted  to  no  more  than  half  a  year. 

Upon  his  return  to  Guilford  he  was  at  first 
put  under  the  care  of  one  Mr.  Chapman,  a  tole- 
rable instructor ;  and  after  some  time  he  had 

the  good  fortune  to  fall  into  the  hands  of  Mr. 

B  2 


4  LIFE  OF   DR.  JOHNSON. 

James,  who,  having  been  educated  in  England, 
was  an  excellent  classical  scholar.  Under  him 
he  made  such  progress  in  Latin  and  Greek,  that 
by  the  time  he  was  fourteen  years  of  age  he 
was  judged  to  be  well  fitted  for  the  college, 
which  was  then  at  Saybrook. 

Mr.  Noyes,  his  first  tutor  at  college,  had  some 
little  knowledge  of  Hebrew ;  and  as  young  Mr. 
Johnson,  after  keeping  way  with  his  class  in  the 
appointed  academical  course,  had  considerable 
time  to  spare,  he  devoted  it  to  Hebrew,  which 
soon  became  his  favourite  study.  He  pursued 
his  other  studies  under  the  direction  of  Mr.  Fisk, 
a  tutor  whom  he  respected;  and  took  his  degree 
of  Bachelor  of  Arts  in  1714. 

Learning  seems  to  have  been  at  its  lowest  ebb 
in  the  country  about  this  period.  Among  the 
first  settlers  of  Connecticut,  there  were  several 
persons  who  had  received  a  regular  education  at 
the  universities  in  England,  and  were  distinguish- 
ed by  their  learning  and  abilities  ;  at  the  head  of 
this  list  appear  the  venerable  names  of  Daven- 
port, Hooker,  Blackman,  Stone,  &c.  But  this 
set  of  men  were  gone  off  the  stage,  and  were 
succeeded  by  others,  who  had  only  such  an 
education  as  a  new  country  afforded,  while  but 
little  attention  could  be  paid  to  literature,  and 
while  the  advantages  for  obtaining  it  were  pro- 


LIFE  OF  DR.  JOHNSON. 


portionably  small.  The  great  deficiency  of  the 
country  in  point  of  learning  was  hardly  known 
or  suspected  till  the  college  was  erected ;  but 
then  it  appeared  in  too  strong  and  glaring  a 
light  to  be  any  longer  a  matter  of  dispute. 

The  best  scholars  in  the  colony  were  at  the 
head  of  this  institution.  They  were  thoroughly 
engaged  in  establishing  its  reputation  and  in- 
terest ;  they  marked  out  the  plan  of  education ; 
they  appointed  the  instructors ;  and  every  thing 
was  conducted  according  to  their  direction :  yet, 
after  all,  the  figure  it  made  was  but  rude  and 
awkward.  For  many  years  the  utmost  that  was 
generally  attempted  at  the  college,  in  classical 
learning,  was  to  construe  five  or  six  of  Tully's 
Orations,  as  many  books  of  Virgil,  and  part  only 
of  the  Greek  Testament,  with  some  chapters  of 
the  Hebrew  Psalter.  Common  arithmetic,  and 
a  little  surveying,  were  the  ne  plus  ultra  of 
mathematical  acquirements.  The  logic,  meta- 
physics, and  ethics  that  were  then  taught,  were 
entangled  in  the  scholastic  cobwebs  of  a  few 
paltry  systems,  that  would  now  be  laid  by  as 
proper  food  for  worms.  Indeed,  at  this  time 
when  Mr.  Johnson  took  his  Bachelor's  degree 
the  students  had  heard  of  a  certain  new  and 
strange  philosophy  that  was  in  vogue  in  England, 
and  the  names  of  Des  Cartes,  Boyle,  Locke, 


6  LIFE  OF  DR.  JOHNSON. 

and   Newton*,   had  reached   them ;   but  they 
were  not  suffered  to  think  that  any  valuable  im- 

*  The  great  improvements  in  learning,  and  the  rapid  pro- 
gress in  science  that  were  made  in  Europe  in  the  course  of  the 
seventeenth  century,  were  chiefly  owing  to  the  light  and  di- 
rections held  out  by  Lord  Verulam,  one  of  the  greatest 
geniuses  that  ever  arose  for  the  instruction  of  mankind.  In 
particular,  this  incomparable  person  contributed  so  eminently 
to  the  improvements  that  were  made  in  natural  philosophy, 
that  the  important  service  he  did  to  this  branch  of  learning, 
to  say  nothing  of  others  which  were  equally  indebted  to  him, 
would  have  been  sufficient  to  render  the  name  of  Bacon  im- 
mortal. "  He  opened  the  eyes  of  those  who  had  been  led 
blindfold  by  the  dubious  authority  of  traditionary  systems,  and 
the  uncertain  directory  of  hypothesis  and  conjecture.  He  led 
them  to  nature,  that  they  might  consult  that  oracle  directly 
and  near  at  hand,  and  receive  her  answers ;  and,  by  the  in- 
troduction of  experimental  inquiry,  he  placed  philosophy  upon 
a  new  and  solid  basis.  It  was  thus,  undoubtedly,  that  he 
removed  the  prejudices  of  former  times,  which  led  men  to 
consider  all  human  knowledge  as  circumscribed  within  the 
bounds  of  Greek  and  Latin  erudition,  and  an  acquaintance 
with  the  more  elegant  and  liberal  arts  ;  and  thus,  in  the  vast 
regions  of  nature,  he  opened  scenes  of  instruction  and  science, 
which,  although  hitherto  unknown  or  disregarded,  were  infinitely 
more  noble  and  sublime,  and  much  more  productive  of  solid 
nourishment  to  the  minds  of  the  wise,  than  that  kind  of  learn- 
ing that  was  in  vogue  before  his  time."  See  Mosheim's  Eccles. 
IHxt.  by  Dr.  Macclaine,  vol.  iv.  p.  259  of  the  second  edition. 
See  also  Biog.  Brit.  Art.  Bacon. 

It  was   exactly  upon  his  plan  that  the   Royal  Society  in 


LIFE  OF   DR.   JOHNSON*.  7 

provements  were  to  be  expected  from  philoso- 
phical innovations.  They  were  told  that  a  new 
philosophy  would  soon  bring  in  a  new  divinity, 
and  corrupt  the  pure  religion  of  the  country; 
and  it  was  not  intended  that  they  should  vary 
the  breadth  of  a  hair  from  Ames's  Medulla  and 
Cases  of  Conscience,  and  Wollebius.  The  trustees 
had  been  careful  to  establish  these  as  the  stand- 
ard of  orthodoxy  and  true  theology  as  soon  as 
they  were  authorised  to  act :  for  at  a  meeting  on 
the  llth  of  November,  1701,  held  at  Saybrook, 
they  appointed  for  their  first  and  most  funda- 
mental rule — "  That  the  Rector  take  special 
care,  as  of  the  moral  behaviour  of  the  students 
at  all  times,  so  with  industry  to  instruct  and 
ground  them  well  in  theoretical  divinity ;  and 
to  that  end,  shall  neither  by  himself,  nor  by 
any  other  person  whomsoever,  allow  them  to  be 

England ;  that  Galilei,  in  Italy ;  that  Gassendi,  in  France ; 
that  Tycho  Brahe,  in  Denmark  ;  that  Kepler,  Hevelius,  and 
Leibnitz,  in  Germany ;  and  the  two  Bernoulli,  in  Switzerland, 
proceeded  ;  and,  in  consequence  of  pursuing  his  directions  as 
far  as  was  practicable,  they  made  such  improvements  and  dis- 
coveries in  mathematical  and  philosophical  knowledge  as  justly 
astonished  the  learned  world.  But  to  all  this  the  people  in 
Connecticut  were  entire  strangers.  They  knew  nothing  of  the 
state  of  learning,  at  this  period,  but  as  it  existed  near  a  century 
back,  before  it  had  been  organised,  quickened,  and  directed  by 
the  penetrating  genius  of  Sir  Francis  Bacon. 


8 


JOHNSON, 


instructed  and  grounded  in  any  other  system  or 
synopsis  of  divinity  than  such  as  the  said  trus- 
tees do  order  and  appoint :  but  shall  take  effec- 
tual care  that  the  said  students  be  weekly  (at 
such  seasons  as  he  shall  see  cause  to  appoint) 
caused  memoriter  to  recite  the  Assembly's  Cate- 
chism in  Latin,  and  Ames's  Theological  Theses; 
of  which,  as  also  Ames's  Cases  of  Conscience,  he 
shall  make,  or  cause  to  be  made  from  time  to 
time,  such  explanations  as  may  (through  the 
blessing  of  God)  be  most  conducive  to  their 
establishment  in  the  principles  of  the  Chris- 
tian Protestant  religion*." 

The  students,  being  compelled  to  move  in 
these  literary  and  theological  trammels,  could 
make  but  small  progress  in  useful  science.  And, 
indeed,  had  they  not  been  thus  circumscribed, 
their  opportunities  for  improvement  were  incon- 
siderable. There  were  no  books  in  the  coun- 
try but  such  as  were  imported  with  the  first 
settlers,  near  a  century  before,  and  which  were 
published  before  learning  was  methodised  and 
refined  from  the  rubbish  and  dross  of  the  school- 
men. It  was  looked  upon  as  time  well  employ- 
ed, and  all  things  considered,  perhaps  it  really 
was,  for  those  who  were  desirous  of  making  a 


Mr.  Clap's  History  of  Yale  College,  p.  10. 


LIFJi   (»!•'   JJH.  JOHNSON.  9 

figure  i«  learning  to  draw  up  a  synopsis  or 
abridgment  of  some  of  those  old  English  or 
Dutch  systems  which  the  country  afforded.  In 
this  way  Mr.  Johnson  was  eminent;  and  he 
went  so  far  as  to  venture  upon  drawing  up  a 
small  but  general  system  of  all  the  parts  of 
learning  within  his  reach,  in  which  the  nume- 
rous scholastic  distinctions  and  definitions  were 
duly  adjusted  and  arranged. 

He  was  now  thought  an  adept,  and  he  himself 
had  no  small  opinion  of  his  own  abilities  as  a 
scholar.     But  after  a  year  or  two  he  met  with  a 
book,  which  his  curiosity  prompted  him  to  pur- 
chase.     This   was    Lord    Bacon's    Instauratio 
Magnet,  or  Advancement  of  Learning,  and  per- 
haps the  only  copy  that  was  then  in  the  country. 
He  sat  down  to  it  with  great  eagerness ;  and  as 
his  love  of  knowledge  and  truth  was  his  ruling 
passion,  he  endeavoured  to  divest  his  mind  of 
all  prejudice,  and  to  study  that  great  work  with 
the  utmost  impartiality  and  candour.   The  care- 
ful reading  of  such  a  book  soon  brought  down 
all  his  towering  imaginations,  and  reduced  him 
to  a  low  opinion  of  his  own  abilities.     In  short, 
every  thing  appeared  new  to  him,  and  he  seemed 
to  himself  like  a  person,  to  use  his  own  expres- 
sion,   "suddenly  emerging  out  of  the  glimmer 
of  twilight  into  the  full  sunshine  of  open  day." 


IJ  FE  OF   DH.   JO  MX  SOX. 

About  this  time  some  presents  of  modern 
books  were  made  to  the  college  library.  The 
collection  sent  over  by  Mr.  Dummer,  who  was 
agent  for  the  colony,  amounted  to  eight  hun- 
dred volumes;  to  which  collection  many  emi- 
nent writers  of  the  Church  of  England,  both 
laymen  and  clergymen,  contributed,  by  giving  a 
set  of  their  own  works ;  particularly  Sir  Isaac 
Newton,  Sir  Richard  Blackmore,  Sir  Richard 
Steele,  Dr.  Burnet,  Dr.  Woodward,  Dr.  Halley, 
Dr.  Bentley,  and  Dr.  Kennet.  Mr.  Johnson 
then  embraced,  with  inexpressible  pleasure,  the 
opportunity  of  reading  the  works  of  our  best 
English  divines,  philosophers,  and  poets.  Among 
other  authors,  he  carefully  read  the  works  of 
the  great  Drs.  Barrow,  Patrick,  South,  Tillotson, 
Sharp,  Scott,  Whitby,  and  Sherlock.  To  one 
in  his  situation,  all  this  was  like  a  flood  of  day 
breaking  in  upon  his  mind. 

Under  these  new  advantages,  one  would  ima- 
gine that  the  general  literary  state,  both  of  the 
country  and  the  college,  would  soon  have  put 
on  a  new  and  better  appearance.  Yet  Mr. 
Johnson  observes,  that  but  very  few  discovered 
an  inclination  or  curiosity  to  consult  any  of 
the  above-mentioned  excellent  writers,  except 
Messrs.  Cutler,  Eliot,  Hart,  Whittelsey,  Wet- 
more,  Brown,  and  himself.  Mr.  Cutler  was 


LIFE  OF  DR.  JOHNSON.  11 

educated  at  Harvard  College,  in  Cambridge, 
graduated  in  1701,  and  had  congregational  ordi- 
nation at  Stratford  in  1710,  where  he  continued, 
in  high  esteem,  as  the  parish  minister.  Messrs. 
Wetmore  and  Brown  were  Mr.  Johnson's  class- 
mates at  college :  the  others  were  young  minis- 
ters in  some  of  the  neighbouring  towns,  and 
confined  their  reading  chiefly  to  the  writers  in 
theology.  Their  common  fondness  for  the  new 
library  often  brought  these  gentlemen  together, 
and  occasioned  them  to  enter  into  a  particular 
acquaintance  and  correspondence  with  one  ano- 
ther. Of  these  worthy  associates,  Mr.  Johnson 
and  Mr.  Brown  entered  into  the  closest  league 
of  friendship ;  and  they  joined  together  in  study- 
ing the  philosophers  as  well  as  the  divines. 
They  also  read  the  classics  in  some  of  the  best 
editions. 

In  1715  the  college  at  Saybrook  was  in  no 
small  danger  of  breaking  to  pieces.  The  scho- 
lars entertained  so  mean  an  opinion  of  their 
tutors,  that  they  despised  them,  and  refused  to 
pay  them  any  marks  of  respect,  openly  com- 
plaining that  they  could  learn  nothing  from  such 
teachers.  At  length  most  of  them,  one  after 
another,  went  off,  seeking  for  better  instruction, 
which,  indeed,  it  was  difficult  to  find.  Those 
belonging  to  the  towns  on  Connecticut  river 
§ 


LIFE  0] 

joined  together,  under  the  direction  of  Messrs, 
Woodbridge  and  Buckingham,  ministers  at 
Hartford,  who  were  trustees  of  the  college. 
These  two  gentlemen  being  desirous  of  obtain- 
ing a  removal  of  the  college  from  Saybrook  to 
Weathersfield,  in  their  own  neighbourhood,  per- 
suaded Messrs.  Williams  and  Smith  to  set  up  a 
collegiate  school  at  Weathersfield,  to  which  all 
the  young  gentlemen  above-mentioned  speedily 
resorted:  while  some,  who  belonged  to  the 
towns  on  the  sea  shore,  put  themselves  under 
the  tuition  of  Mr.  Johnson,  at  Guilford. 

This  occasioned  a  general  meeting  of  the 
trustees.  The  majority  of  that  board,  together 
with  Mr.  Saltonstall,  the  governor  of  the  colony, 
were  for  establishing  the  college  in  New  Haven ; 
but,  as  the  academical  schism  was  so  great, 
they  thought  it  expedient  to  refer  the  matter  to 
the  general  court  (or  meeting  of  the  governor, 
council,  and  assembly),  which  was  to  be  held  at 
New  Haven,  in  October,  1716. 

Accordingly,  when  the  matter  came  to  a  hear- 
ing before  the  general  court,  it  was  found  that  a 
majority  of  both  houses  was  for  establishing  the 
collide  in  New  Haven;  and  during  that  very 
ion  an  act  of  assembly  was  passed  for  that 
purpose.  The  trustees,  who  approved  of  this 
removal,  proceeded  iiiuinimousjy  to  choose  Mr. 


1  IFE  OF  DR.   JOHNSOX.  Hi 

Johnson,  who  was  no  more  than  twenty  years  of 
age,  to  be  one  of  the  tutors  ;  and,  with  a  view 
of  reconciling  the  party  at  Weathersfield,  they 
appointed  Mr.  Smith  to  be  the  other.  A  sub- 
scription was  immediately  set  forward,  to  raise 
money  for  the  purpose  of  erecting  a  college ; 
and  an  architect  from  Boston  was  procured  to 
conduct  the  building. 

All  this  was  very  mortifying  to  the  Weathers- 
field  party.  However,  Mr.  Johnson  was  com- 
missioned by  the  trustees  to  wait  on  Mr.  Smith, 
and  to  prevail  with  him,  if  possible,  to  come 
over  to  the  established  college,  and  bring  his 
scholars  with  him.  But  Smith  proved  to  be  in- 
exorable, as  were  all  the  party  ;  being  resolved 
to  continue  and  support  their  schism  at  all  ha- 
zards. They  occasioned,  for  some  time,  no 
small  disturbance  in  the  colony.  The  students 
along  the  sea  coast,  however,  came  together  at 
New  Haven,  to  the  number  of  near  twenty ;  and 
Mr.  Johnson  began  his  course  of  instruction 
there,  assisted  by  Mr.  Noyes,  the  minister  of 
the  town. 

Thus  both  parties  were  resolved  firmly  to 
maintain  their  ground.  The  party  at  Weathers- 
field  was  obstinate,  and  went  on  in  all  the  forms 
of  a  regular  college.  At  length  they  held  a 
public  commencement,  and  gave  degrees,  Sep- 


FE  OF   DR.  JOHXSOX. 

tember  12,  1717,  (which  was  the  same  day  01 
which  the  college  held  its  first  commencement 
in  New  Haven)  in  direct  opposition  to  the  act  ol 
the  whole   legislature    of   the  colony.     At  th< 
commencement   in  New  Haven,  Mr.  Johnsoi 
with  some  others  of  his  class,  received  the 
of  Master  of  Arts ;  and  the  trustees  chose  hi* 
dear  friend,  Mr.  Brown,  to  be  joined  with  hii 
in  taking  charge  of  the  college. 

These  two  amiable  and  worthy  young  gentle- 
men could  hardly  wish  to  be  more  agreeabl; 
situated.   Happy  in  each  other,  having  the  sam< 
turn  of  mind,  the  same  disposition  of  heart,  th< 
same  thirst  for  knowledge,  with  the  inestimable 
treasures  of  the  new  library  now  in  their  hands, 
they  united  their  endeavours   to   enlarge   the 
minds,  and  improve  the  taste,  of  their  pupils,  b; 
the  helps  of  those  lights  which  had  but  latel; 
appeared  above  their  horizon.    They  introduced 
the  study  of  Mr.  Locke  and  Sir  Isaac  Newtoi 
as  fast  as  they  could,  and,  in  order  to  understam 
the  latter,  the  study  of  mathematics.     Till 
the  Ptolemaic  system    of  the   world  was 
strongly  believed  as  the  Holy  Scriptures ;  but 
they  were  soon  able  to  overthrow  it,   and  to 
establish  on  its  ruins  the  doctrine  of  Copernicus. 
Some   opposition  would    probably  have   been 
made  to  these  innovations;  but  it  was  a  favour- 


LIFE  OF  DH.   JOHXSOX.  15 

able  circumstance  that  the  disputes  concerning 
the  college  engrossed  the  public  attention. 

Mr.  Johnson  had  a  strong  desire  of  entering 
into  the  depths  of  Sir  Isaac  Newton's  philo- 
sophy, but  was  not  furnished  with  a  sufficient 
degree  of  mathematical  knowledge,  to  the  study 
of  which  branch  of  learning  he  had  unhappily 
been  averse.  Yet  finding  it  necessary  to  so 
favourite  and  important  a  design,  he  resolved  to 
endeavour  to  conquer  that  aversion.  This  he 
effected  by  a  diligent  and  resolute  application; 
and  in  the  course  of  his  studying  them,  the  ma- 
thematics, which  before  had  been  his  aversion, 
afforded  him  a  pleasure  that  was  new  and  ex- 
quisite. 

The  college  at  New  Haven  gained  strengh 
and  reputation  daily,  and  the  building  went  on 
vigorously;  so  that  by  the  latter  end  of  the  year 
1718  several  apartments  were  furnished;  and 
Mr.  Johnson  was  the  first  that  lodged  and  set 
up  house-keeping  in  the  college.  Mr.  Brown 
soon  after  followed  his  example. 

The  government  had  hitherto  connived  at  the 
Weathersfield  faction,  (for  so  it  now  deserved  to 
be  called)  hoping  it  would  die  away  of  itself; 
but  at  length  the  assembly  thought  proper  to 
pass  an  act,  enjoining  all  the  scholars  to  repair 
to  the  established  college.  The  delinquents 


10  LIFE   OF   DK.   JOHNSON'. 

made  an  appearance  of  submission,  coming  all 
in  a  body  ;  but  it  was  soon  discovered  that  they 
had  no  good  intention.  They  pretended  to  be 
dissatisfied  with  every  thing,  and  made  all  the 
mischief  they  could  ;  and  after  about  six  weeks 
they  went  back  to  Weathersfield.  At  the  next 
general  assembly  the  difference  was  compro- 
mised by  this  agreement: — That,  in  case  the 
scholars  would  return  to  their  duty,  and  abide 
at  New  Haven,  the  degrees  that  had  been  given 
at  Weathersfield  should  be  confirmed,  and  a 
state-house  should  be  built  at  Hartford,  at  the 
public  expense.  Upon  this  the  faction  expired, 
and  the  scholars  came  and  lived  at  New  Haven ; 
but  they  proved  to  be  a  very  vicious  and  turbu- 
lent set  of  fellows,'  as  might  naturally  be  ex- 
pected from  the  part  they  had  acted  in  opposi- 
tion to  the  government. 

The  college  had  hitherto  been  only  under  the 
management  of  tutors,  without  a  resident  rector, 
or  president.  Mr.  Andrew,  the  minister  at  Mil- 
ford,  was  the  rector  at  that  time,  and  took  all 
the  care  of  it  that  he  could  at  the  distance  of 
ten  miles ;  and  he  presided  at  the  commence- 
ments. But  now  a  resident  rector  was  thought 
necessary ;  and  he  not  inclining  to  remove  from 
Milford,  at  his  advanced  time  of  life,  the  trus- 
chose  Mr.  Timothy  Cutler,  who  had  been 


LIFE  OF  DR.  JOHNSON.  17 

ten  years  the  minister  at  Stratford,  and  was  the 
most  celebrated  preacher  in  the  colony,  to 
succeed  to  the  rector's  chair,  and  to  take  the 
college  under  his  immediate  inspection.  This 
gentleman  was  universally  allowed  to  be  well 
qualified  for  the  station,  being  a  man  of  genius 
and  application,  of  integrity  and  resolution.  With 
him  the  tutors  were  very  happy,  and  the  college 
prospered  under  his  administration.  After  his 
coming  to  reside  at  New  Haven,  Mr.  Johnson 
continued  there  no  longer  than  a  year. 

He  had  always  intended,  with  the  concurrence 
and  approbation  of  his  friends,  to  become  a 
preacher  of  the  gospel ;  and,  therefore,  at  the 
earnest  solicitations  of  the  people  at  West  Haven, 
but  four  miles  distant  from  the  college,  he  con- 
sented to  fix  himself  there  in  that  station,  and 
was  set  apart  to  the  ministry,  March  20,  1720,  in 
the  twenty-fourth  year  of  his  age.  He  had  met 
wkh  much  better  offers  in  some  respects,  but  he 
was  not  governed  by  mercenary  motives.  His 
grand  point  in  view  was  to  improve  his  own 
mind  in  knowledge,  in  order  to  be  more  useful 
to  mankind  ;  and,  therefore,  for  the  sake  of  being 
so  near  the  college  and  its  library,  and  his 
friends  Mr.  Cutler  and  Mr.  Brown,  he  gave 
this  place  the  preference,  although  it  had  but 


18  LIFE  OF  DH.  JOHNSON'. 

little  to  recommend  it ;   and  he  was  extremely 
happy  in  this  situation. 

Mr.  Johnson  was  always  of  a  serious  and  de- 
vout turn  of  mind,  but  averse  to  every  appear- 
ance of  enthusiasm ;  and  he  never  could  be 
thoroughly  reconciled  to  the  practice  of  public 
extempore  praying  and  preaching,  which  he 
looked  upon  as  the  great  engines  of  enthusiasm. 
When  at  college  he  had  conceived  an  aversion 
to  extempore  prayers,  by  observing  the  use  that 
was  made  of  them  there,  and  the  tendency  of 
this  practice  to  promote  self-conceit  and  spiritual 
pride.  The  scholars,  in  his  time,  frequently 
held  private  meetings  for  prayer ;  and  those  of 
them  that  had  acquired  something  of  a  talent  at 
extempore  praying  could  not  forbear  appearing 
vain  of  it :  one,  in  particular,  who  was  allowed 
to  excel  in  that  way,  had  the  vanity  frequently 
to  boast  of  his  gifts.  On  the  other  hand,  some 
modest  young  gentlemen,  of  good  sense  and  fair 
character,  who  wanted  the  assurance  to  pray 
in  this  manner,  were  discountenanced  and  des- 
pised. Mr.  Johnson  also  could  not  help  fre- 
quently observing  many  familiar,  impertinent, 
and  indecent,  and  sometimes  almost  blasphemous 
expressions,  that  were  uttered  on  these  occa- 
sions, which  were  shocking  to  him,  and  gave  him 
an  early  dislike  to  extempore  praying.  From 


LIFE   OF  DR.   JOHNSON.  19 

such  observations  ho  could  not  avoid  making  the 
conclusion,  that  it  would  be  much  better  to  have 
our  prayers  pre-composed,  with  due  care  and 
attention. 

In  1715  he  happened  to  meet  with  Archbishop 
King's  discourse  Of  the  Inventions  of  Men  in  the 
Worship  of  God,  which  confirmed  him  in  his 
opinion.  That  excellent  writer  proved,  with 
an  evidence  that  Mr.  Johnson  thought  but  little 
short  of  demonstration,  that  public  worship  car- 
ried on  in  the  extempore  way,  was  wrong  and 
unscriptural :  and  that  pre-conceived,  well-com- 
posed forms  of  prayer  were  infinitely  preferable. 
They  show  a  much  greater  reverence  to  the 
Divine  Majesty  ;  and  in  the  use  of  them  there  is 
no  occasion  to  rack  our  invention  in  finding  what 
to  say,  or  to  exercise  our  minds  in  ascertaining 
the  meaning  and  propriety  of  what  is  said,  as 
is  necessarily  the  case  in  extempore  prayers. 
When  a  form  of  prayer  is  used,  we  have  nothing 
else  to  do  than  to  offer  up  our  hearts  with  our 
words,  which,  indeed,  is  the  only  proper  busi- 
ness of  prayer.  He  had  been  educated  under 
strong  prejudices  against  the  Church  of  Eng- 
land, of  which  he  knew  but  very  little;  but  the 
next  year,  (1716)  the  Book  of  Common  Prayer 
was,  for  the  first  time,  put  into  his  hands,  by 
one  Mr.  Smithson  a  pious  member  of  the 

c  2 


20  I.I  1  K   01     L>K.   JOHXSOX. 

church,  who  had  lately  settled  in  Guilford. 
On  perusing  the  Liturgy,  he  found  that  it  chiefly 
consisted  of  a  very  judicious  collection  of  sen- 
timents and  expressions  out  of  the  Holy  Scrip- 
tures ;  and  these  he  had  always  reverenced  and 
loved.  This  inspection,  together  with  Dr.  King's 
book  before-mentioned,  caused  all  his  prejudices 
against  the  Liturgy  of  the  Church  of  England 
entirely  to  vanish. 

Mr.  Johnson  had,  likewise,  been  always,  much 
embarrassed  with  the  rigid  Calvinistical  doc- 
trines in  which  he  had  been  from  his  infancy  in- 
structed. He  thought  himself  bound  to  believe 
them,  because  every  body  else  did,  and  because 
some  sounds  in  scripture  seemed  to  favour  them : 
but  then  as  many  passages  in  scripture  appeared, 
at  the  same  time  to  be  utterly  inconsistent  with 
them,  he  never  could  be  perfectly  reconciled  to 
these  opinions.  When  the  library  came  over, 
and  after  he  and  his  associates  had  read  and 
considered  the  writings  of  some  of  the  most  ce- 
lebrated divines  of  the  Church  of  England,  and 
conversed  together  freely  on  these  subjects,  they 
had  the  unspeakable  satisfaction  of  being  able  to 
remove  all  their  doubts  and  objections,  and  of 
obtaining  rest  to  their  minds,  which  had  been 
long  agitated  and  wearied  with  the  perplexities 
that  attended  their  inquiries.  However,  the 


LIKE   OF   Oil.   JOHNSON.  21 

times  were  such,  that  they  found  it  necessary  to 
be  very  cautious  in  these  matters,  and  to  keep 
their  thoughts  much  to  themselves. 

Mr.  Johnson  had  also  an  early  dislike  to  the 
independent  or  congregational  form  of  church 
government,  in  which  the  people  have  so  much 
influence.  This,  as  well  as  extempore  prayer, 
he  plainly  perceived  to  be  productive  of  con- 
ceitedness  and  self-sufficiency,  and,  by  natural 
consequence,  of  censoriousness  and  uncharitable- 
ness.  The  discipline  was  often  applied  to  the 
mere  frailties  of  nature,  or  prostituted  to  the 
purposes  of  private  revenge,  and  issued  com- 
monly in  great  animosities,  and  sometimes  in 
the  most  virulent  separations  and  schisms.  He 
was  of  opinion,  that  such  a  popular  form  of  eccle- 
siastical discipline  could  not  long  subsist  in  such 
a  manner  as  to  answer  the  main  ends  of  govern- 
ment ;  but  must,  from  the  very  nature  of  it, 
soon  crumble  to  pieces,  especially  in  a  country 
where  every  individual  seemed  to  think  his  own 
judgment  infallible.  Observations  of  this  kind 
prepared  him,  when  he  came  to  read  and  to 
understand  the  nature  of  Episcopal  govern- 
ment, to  see  its  reasonableness  and  the  great 
advantages  that  attend  it. 

Such  was  the  state  of  Mr.  Johnson's  mind 
when  he  settled  at  West  Haven.  It  may,  there- 


22  LIFE  OF  DR.  JOHNSON. 

fore,  be  well  supposed,  that  it  would  then  have 
been  much  more  agreeable  to  him  to  have  been 
ordained  in  the  episcopal  than  in  the  congrega- 
tional way ;  and  this,  he  informs  us,  was  really 
the  case.  But  although  he  thought  it  eligible  in 
most  circumstances,  yet  he  did  not  think  it  ne- 
cessary, in  point  of  duty,  as  he  was  then  situ- 
ated, to  conform  to  the  church.  Accordingly 
he  made  himself  easy,  and  went  on  in  the  pro- 
secution of  his  studies,  and  in  the  discharge  ol 
parochial  duties,  not  appearing  to  vary  from  th< 
customs  of  his  country. 

Notwithstanding,  with  regard  to  his  public 
performances  his  method  was  peculiar.  As  to 
his  prayers,  he  commonly  made  use  of  forms, 
which  he  provided  for  himself  in  the  best  manner 
he  could,  and  chiefly  out  of  the  Liturgy  of  the 
Church  of  England.  And  as  to  sermons,  his 
practice  was  to  write  about  one  a  month,  taking 
time  to  render  the  composition  as  perfect  as  pos- 
sible ;  while  he  contented  himself  at  other  times 
with  carefully  reading  the  sermons  of  Dr.  Barro1 
and  some  other  celebrated  preachers,  minuting 
down  only  the  heads  of  their  discourses,  and 
expressing  the  sense  of  his  author  in  language  of 
his  own,  as  he  was  able  to  command  it  at  the  time 
of  speaking.  In  this  way  while  he  greatly  im- 
proved his  mind,  he  acquired  a  facility  of  expres- 


LIFE  OF   DR.  JOHNSON.  23 

sing  himself  on  any  subject.  His  composing  no 
more  than  one  sermon  a  month  was  by  no  means 
the  effect  of  indolence,  or  an  aversion  to  business, 
but  merely  a  regular  plan  that  he  had  formed 
for  rendering  himself  as  useful  as  possible.  The 
attainments  he  had  hitherto  made  in  literature 
he  now  considered  in  the  light  of  a  foundation 
only,  on  which  he  conceived  it  was  his  duty 
to  raise  the  highest  improvements  .he  was  able 
to  make.  Accordingly  he  pursued  his  studies 
with  intense  application  and  ardour  of  mind ;  not 
neglecting  the  classics,  mathematics,  physics 
and  metaphysics,  yet  devoting  himself  chiefly 
to  divinity,  ethics,  and  history  both  sacred  and 
profane. 

In  the  course  of  his  inquiries,  the  doctrines 
and  facts  of  the  primitive  church,  among  other 
things  came  under  his  examination.  With  re- 
gard to  this  subject  he  consulted  freely  with  his 
friends  above  mentioned,  who  often  met  toge- 
ther at  the  college,  or  at  one  another's  places  of 
abode.  The  result  of  these  conversations  and 
inquiries  was,  that  they  could  see  but  little  re- 
semblance of  the  primitive  church  in  the  disci- 
pline and  worship  that  were  established  among 
them ;  and  that  the  Church  of  England  appeared 
to  them  in  its  general  constitution,  to  come  the 
nearest  to  the  purity  and  perfection  of  the  first 
ages  of  Christianity  of  any  church  upon  earth. 


:FE  OF  DR.  JOHNSOX. 

But  those  conferences,  which  had  hitherto 
been  so  agreeable,  began  now  to  be  productive 
of  uneasiness  and  anxiety.  These  gentlemen 
became  unhappy,  on  finding  themselves  in  a 
state  so  very  different,  in  many  respects,  anc 
particularly  with  regard  to  ecclesiastical  govern- 
ment, from  that  of  the  primitive  church.  How 
to  conduct  themselves  in  this  case  they  could 
hardly  determine.  They  all  loved  their  country, 
and  were  greatly  respected  by  it ;  being  esteem- 
ed in  point  both  of  moral  character  and  literary 
accomplishments,  the  most  considerable  persons 
of  their  years  belonging  to  the  colony.  It  there- 
fore pained  them  to  think  of  forming  conclusions 
which  they  knew  would  be  distressing  to  their 
friends,  and  offensive  to  the  country  in  general. 

On  considering  these  things,  they  resolved  to 
set  themselves  down  to  re-examine  the  subject, 
being  desirous  of  continuing  in  their  present 
way,  if  it  could  be  done  with  a  quiet  conscience. 
They  formed  a  resolution,  however,  to  act  ho- 
nestly and  impartially,  and  to  read  the  best 
books  on  both  sides  of  the  question.  Accord- 
ingly they  carefully  compared  together  what  was 
offered  by  Hoadly  and  Calamy  in  their  lonj 
controversy  on  the  subject :  they  put  into  th< 
opposite  scales  Sir  Peter  King's  Inquiry  and 
Slater's  Original  Draught :  they  then  examined 


LIFE  OF  Dll.  JOHNSON.  25 

Potter  on  Church  Government,  to  which  no  an- 
swer has  been  attempted :  and  Mr.  Johnson 
read  several  of  the  earliest  and  best  fathers,  in 
their  original  languages.  The  effect  was,  that 
from  the  facts  in  scripture,  compared  with  those 
of  the  primitive  church,  it  appeared  plain  to 
them  that  the  episcopal  government  was  univer- 
sally established  by  the  Apostles  wherever  they 
propagated  Christianity ;  that  through  the  first 
order  of  the  ministry,  called  Bishops,  the  power 
of  the  priesthood  was  to  be  conveyed  from  the 
great  head  of  the  church;  and,  although  Presby- 
ters preached  and  administered  the  sacraments, 
yet  that  no  act  of  ordination  and  government,  for 
several  ages,  was  ever  allowed  to  be  lawful,  with- 
out a  Bishop  at  the  head  of  the  Presbytery.  All 
this  appeared  as  evident,  from  the  universal 
testimony  of  the  church,  as  the  true  canon  of 
scripture  itself.  It  was  therefore  impossible  for 
them  after  this  inquiry,  not  to  suspect,  not  only 
the  regularity,  but  even  the  lawfulness  and  va- 
lidity of  their  own  ordination. 

At  this  period  the  Church  of  England  had 
scarcely  any  existence  in  Connecticut.  There 
were,  indeed,  about  thirty  families  at  Stratford, 
chiefly  from  England,  who  professed  themselves 
members  of  it,  and  who  had  applied  to  the  Society* 

*  For  the  Propagation  of  the  Gospel  in  Foreign  Parts. 


26 


LIFE  OF  DR.  JOHNSON. 


for  a  minister;  and  that  venerable  body,  11 
consequence  of  this  application,  ordered  Mr. 
Pigot,  whom  they  had  taken  into  their  ser- 
vice, to  reside  at  Stratford  for  a  few  months. 
While  he  was  there,  Mr.  Johnson  waited  on 
him  in  June  1722,  and  in  the  course  of  con- 
versation, invited  him  to  make  a  visit  to  the 
college ;  to  which  he  consented,  and  appointed 
the  day.  Mr.  Johnson  gave  notice  of  this  t< 
his  friends,  and  they  agreed  to  meet  him  then 
on  that  occasion.  On  the  day  appointed  they 
all  met  at  the  college;  and  these  gentlemen, 
in  their  conversation  with  Mr.  Pigot,  did  no 
more  than  express  their  charity  and  veneration 
for  the  Church  of  England ;  but  this  was  so  un- 
expected, and  so  agreeable  to  Mr.  Pigot,  that 
he  could  not  forbear  giving  some  hints  of  ii 
among  his  people  at  Stratford. 

By  this  time  the  frequent  meetings,  and  the 
great  intimacy  of  these  gentlemen,  began  to  be 
noticed,  and  became  the  subject  of  speculation. 
Some  suspected  that  they  were  about  to  aposta- 
tize into  Arminianism,  which  was  looked  upon 
ne  of  the  vilest  heresies;  and  others  went 
so  far  as  not  only  to  utter  their  own  suspicions, 
but  to  raise  and  propagate  several  false  repoi 
concerning  the  principles  of  these  gentlemen, 
Jn  short,  by  the  commencement  following,  in  the 


LIFE  OF  DR.  JOHNSON.  27 

month  of  September,  the  whole  country  was  in 
an  alarm,  and  many  people  came  to  New  Haven, 
expecting  some  strange  occurrences. 

The  Trustees  of  the  college,  who  highly 
esteemed  all  the  gentlemen,  did  not  doubt  but 
they  would  be  able  to  clear  themselves  of  every 
unfavourable  suspicion.  Accordingly,  the  day 
after  the  commencement,  they  sent  for  them, 
with  no  other  expectation,  and  with  a  view  of 
removing  the  dark  apprehensions  of  the  people. 
They  were  all  requested  to  meet  the  Trustees 
in  the  college  library ;  upon  which  Mr.  Cutler, 
Mr.  Hart,  Mr.  Eliot,  Mr.  Whittelsey,  Mr. 
Wetmore,  Mr.  Johnson,  and  Mr.  Brown,  made 
their  appearance.  The  examination  was  formal ; 
and  they  were  desired  from  the  youngest  to 
the  eldest,  to  declare  the  true  state  of  the  case 
about  which  they  were  questioned.  The  de- 
claration of  some  of  them  was,  that  they  doubted 
the  validity  of  Presbyterian  ordination  ;  and  of 
the  others,  that  they  were  fully  persuaded  of  the 
invalidity  of  it.  The  trustees  were  struck  with 
astonishment,  and  expressed  the  utmost  grief  and 
concern.  They  desired  that  the  declaration  might 
be  given  them  in  writing ;  which  was  accordingly 
done.  In  return,  the  trustees  sent  them  a  paper, 
in  which  they  entreated  them  to  consider  the 
matter  again  with  greater  attention,  and,  if 


28 


LIFE  OF  DR.  JOHNSOX. 


possible,  to  get  over  their  scruples,  or  at  worst, 
to  desist.  This  was  in  September  1722,  and 
the  General  Assembly  was  to  sit  in  the  October 
following. 

In  this  interim,  Governor  Saltonstall,  who  had 
an  esteem  and  affection  for  these  gentlemen, 
and  was  desirous  of  reclaiming  them  from  their 
errors,  proposed  that  they  and  the  trustees 
should  meet  together,  and  argue  the  points  in  a 
friendly  manner  in  his  presence.  They  accord- 
ingly met  and  disputed ;  and  he  acted  the  part 
of  a  moderator  with  great  candour  and  polite- 
ness. 

The  debate  for  a  considerable  time,  was  ma- 
naged with  decency  by  both  parties  ;  but  it  soon 
appeared,  that  they  did  not  come  together  under 
equal  advantages.     The  subject  was  in  a  great 
measure  new  to  the  trustees,  who  had  never 
much  considered,  or  studied  the  points  in  con- 
troversy ;  but,  on  the  other  side,  the  advocates 
for  the  church  had  weighed  and  examined  them 
with  the  utmost  care,  and  were  at  no  loss  for 
answers  to  every  objection.  The  principal  argu- 
ment that  was  advanced  by  the  former,  was  taken 
from  the  promiscuous  use  of  the  words  Bisho] 
and  Presbyter,   in  the   New  Testament.     Bui 
the  latter,  in  their  reply,  took  notice,  that  mei 
might  wrangle  for  ever  about  the  meaning 


LIKK  OF   DR.  JOHXSON'.  29 

words,  and  therefore  they  urged  that,  in  the 
case  before  them,  the  surest  and  safest  way  was 
to  have  recourse  to  facts.  Now  the  facts  to 
which  they  appealed  were  the  evident  superin- 
tendency  of  Timothy  over  the  clergy,  as  well 
as  laity,  at  Ephesus — of  Titus,  in  Crete — of  the 
Angels,  in  the  seven  churches  of  Asia,  &c. 
That  these  facts  were  rightly  stated,  was  evident, 
as  they  contended,  from  the  testimony  of  the 
very  next  writers  after  the  Apostles,  and  of 
succeeding  writers  for  several  ages,  as  well  as 
from  the  authentic  history  of  those  times,  with- 
out exception. 

Mr.  Johnson  ran  the  parallel,  as  to  matter  of 
evidence,  between  the  fact  of  Episcopacy,  and 
the  facts  of  infant  baptism  and  the  first  day  sab- 
bath, as  the  matter  appeared  from  the  light  of 
history.  He  observed  to  his  opponents,  that  he 
conceived  they  were  right  in  their  reasonings 
concerning  the  two  latter  points ;  but  that  ex- 
actly the  same  reasoning  would  conclude  much 
more  forcibly  in  favour  of  the  former ;  and,  there- 
fore, if  they  would  be  consistent,  that  they  must 
either  receive  Episcopacy,  or  reject  infant  baptism 
and  thejirst  day  sabbath.  He  went  on,  and  de- 
clared his  full  conviction  and  belief,  from  every 
kind  of  information  he  could  gain,  that  there 
never  was  a  time,  till  latterly,  in  which,  if  he  had 


30  LIFE  OF  DR.  JOHNSON*. 

acted  in  opposition  to  Episcopacy,  as  Aerius  did, 
he  would  not  have  been  excommunicated  for  a 
heretic  and  schismatic,  as  Aerius  was.  He  con- 
cluded with  saying,  that  he  had  such  a  reverence 
for  the  sense  and  practice  of  the  ancient  church, 
that  he  could  find  no  way  of  making  himself  easy 
while  he  neglected  to  follow  it.  This  defence 
of  Episcopacy  by  Mr.  Johnson,  exciting  some 
irritating  remarks  from  the  other  party,  Gover- 
nor Saltonstall  put  an  end  to  the  conference. 

Three  of  the  gentlemen  who  appeared  on  the 
side  of  the  Church,  although  they  could  repel 
the  arguments  of  their  opponents,  yet  were  not 
able  to  withstand  the  alternate  reproaches  and 
entreaties  of  their  friends.  At  length  they  were 
so  lucky  as  to  discover  some  way  of  getting  over 
their  scruples,  and  they  continued  in  their  sta- 
tions— living  to  a  good  old  age,  eminent  in  their 
profession,  and  much  respected  by  their  country. 
And  it  has  often  been  observed  of  them,  to  their 
honour,  that,  amidst  all  the  controversies  in 
which  the  church  was  engaged  during  their 
lives,  they  were  never  known  to  act,  or  say,  or 
insinuate,  any  thing  to  her  disadvantage. 

As  to  Messrs.  Cutler  and  Brown,  (the  former 
president  of  the  college,  and  the  latter  a  tutor 
in  it,)  and  Mr.  Johnson,  they  were  determined 
to  go  forward.  They  had  taken  care  before- 


LIFE  OF  DR.  JOHNSON.  31 

hand,  gradually  to  prepare  their  friends  for 
the  event,  and  had  reconciled  them  to  it,  in 
a  great  measure,  by  means  of  the  books  which 
they  had  put  into  their  hands,  and  persuaded 
them  to  read.  Accordingly,  after  formally  re- 
signing their  respective  places,  in  a  few  days 
they  set  out  for  Boston,  proposing  to  embark 
from  thence  to  England,  to  obtain  Holy  Orders 
in  the  church.  Mr.  Wetmore  followed  them 
in  a  few  months. 

When  Mr.  Johnson  took  leave  of  his  people, 
whom  he  greatly  loved,  he  affectionately  told 
them,  that  if  they  could  see  reason  to  conform 
to  the  Church  of  England,  he  would  never  leave 
them ;  but  after  obtaining  such  ordination  as  he 
thought  to  be  necessary,  that  he  would  return  to 
them  again  in  the  character  of  their  Minister. 
But,  with  such  an  offer  they  were  unable  to  com- 
ply, notwithstanding  their  esteem  for  him.  He 
expostulated  with  them,  and  urged  them  seri- 
ously to  consider  the  matter.  Among  other 
things  he  said,  that  they  had  hitherto  professed 
to  admire  his  preaching,  and  especially  his 
prayers.  And,  indeed,  his  prayers  were  so  much 
admired  by  people  in  general,  that  it  was  com- 
mon for  persons  belonging  to  the  neighbouring 
parishes  to  come  to  West  Haven,  on  purpose  to 
hear  them.  Now  he  told  them  that  his  instruc- 


32  LIFE  OF  DR.  JOHNSOX. 

tions  and  prayers  had  all  along  been  taken  from 
the  Church  of  England ;  and  that  they  ought  to 
be  esteemed  as  much,  after  this  circumstance  was 
known,  as  they  had  been  before.  This  declara- 
tion greatly  surprised  them  :  however,  no  more 
than  four  or  five  of  them  could  then  be  recon- 
ciled to  receive  him  in  the  orders  of  the  Church. 

After  a  few  days,  therefore,  he  took  his  final 
leave  of  them,  and  proceeded  on  his  journey  to 
Boston,  in  company  with  Messrs.  Cutler  and 
Brown.  At  Rhode  Island  and  Boston,  they  were 
treated  with  all  possible  respect  by  the  members 
of  the  church.  At  Boston  they  were  about  to 
erect  a  new  church,  and  this  was  offered  to 
Mr.  Cutler.  The  gentlemen  there  also  engaged 
a  passage  for  the  three  associates  in  a  ship  that 
was  just  ready  to  sail ;  and,  at  their  own  expense, 
furnished  them  with  every  thing  that  might  be 
needful  or  useful  to  them  during  the  voyage. 
After  spending  about  a  week  in  Boston,  they 
embarked  on  the  5th  of  November. 

They  arrived  in  the  Downs,  after  a  rough  and 
stormy  passage,  and  landed  at  Ramsgate  on  the 
15th  of  December;  whence  they  went  the  same 
day  to  Canterbury.  There  they  were  obliged  to 
wait  three  days  for  the  stage  coach  ;  and  an  op- 
portunity was  thus  offorded  them  of  seeing  the 
^  hu  !  ruriositifs  of  that  ancient  and  venerable 


LIFK   OF    DK.   JOHNSON'.  33 

city.  The  clay  after  their  arrival  they  attended 
divine  service  at  the  cathedral  church.  Here 
every  thing  was  new  and  surprising  to  them. 
The  magnificence  of  the  building,  the  solemnity 
of  the  service,  and  the  music  that  attended  it, 
all  conspired  to  fill  them  with  admiration  and 
exquisite  pleasure. 

They  had  no  introductory  letters  to  any  per- 
sons in  Canterbury ;  however,  on  their  request 
they  were  introduced  to  the  Dean,  who  was  the 
learned  and  excellent  Dr.  Stanhope.  When 
they  came  to  the  Deanry,  they  sent  in  word,  by 
the  servant,  that  they  were  gentlemen  from 
America,  come  over  for  Holy  Orders,  who  were 
desirous  of  paying  their  respects  to  the  Dean. 
The  Dean  himself  came  immediately  to  the  door, 
took  them  by  the  hand,  and,  to  their  surprise, 
said,  "Come  in  gentlemen;  you  are  very  wel- 
come. I  know  you  well;  for  we  have  just 
been  reading  your  declaration  for  the  church/' 
It  seems,  the  declaration,  with  their  names  an- 
nexed to  it,  had  got  into  the  London  papers ; 
and  the  Dean,  with  a  number  of  Prebendaries 
who  dined  with  him,  were  at  that  instant  read- 
ing it.  The  company  treated  them  with  great 
friendship  and  respect,  and  desired  to  hear  from 
them  their  whole  story.  This  was  circumstanti- 


34  LIFE  OF  DR.  JOHNSON. 

ally  told,  and  the  evening  was  spent  agreeably 
on  both  sides. 

The  next  day  the  Dean,  who  was  then  to  set 
out  for  London,  took  his  leave  of  them  for  the 
present,  giving  them  his  advice  and  direction  ; 
and  afterwards  he  did  them  many  kind  offices, 
as  he  had  opportunity.  While  they  continued 
in  Canterbury,  they  were  happy  in  the  notice 
and  friendship  of  the  Sub-Dean,  Mr.  Gostlin,  and 
of  the  Prebendaries,  especially  Dr.  Grandorge, 
who  was  Chaplain  to  the  Earl  of  Thanet.  Thi* 
gentleman,  some  months  afterwards,  meeting 
them  in  London,  took  them  to  his  lodgings,  am 
counted  out  to  each  of  them  ten  guineas,  which 
was  a  present  from  the  Earl,  his  patron,  for  the 
purchase  of  books ;  and  afterwards  he  procured 
from  his  Lordship  forty  pounds  more  for  Mr. 
Cutler's  church. 

On  coming  to  London  they  were  received  with 
all  possible  kindness  by  Dr.  Robinson  the 
Bishop  of  London,  and  by  the  Society  for  the 
Propagation  of  the  Gospel :  and  it  was  readil; 
agreed,  that  Mr.  Cutler  should  be  sent  to  the 
new  church  in  Boston ;  Mr.  Brown  to  Bristol, 
in  New  England,  a  mission  that  was  vacant ;  and 
Mr.  Johnson  to  Stratford ;  and  that  Mr.  Pigol 
should  be  fixed  at  Providence.  The  two  Arch- 
bishops, Dr.  Wake  and  Sir  William  Dawes,  the 


I.I  FE   OF    1>K.   JOHNSON  .  ;}f> 

latter  especially,  received  them  with  parental 
affection.  Many  gentlemen  were  fond  of  com- 
mencing an  acquaintance  with  them,  particularly 
Dr.  King,  Master  of  the  Charter  House ;  Dr. 
Astry,  the  Treasurer  of  St.  Paul's ;  Dr.  Berriman, 
then  Chaplain  to  the  Bishop  of  London ;  and  the 
chaplain's  brother,  Mr.  John  Berriman,  a  most 
worthy  clergymaa.  With  them  Mr.  Johnson 
afterwards  maintained  a  long  friendly  cor- 
respondence by  letters,  but  more  especially 
with  Dr.  Astry  and  Mr.  Berriman. 

While  the  three  candidates  were  preparing  for 
ordination,  and  going  on  with  great  dispatch, 
Mr.  Cutler  was  taken  ill  of  the  small-pox,  and 
had  it  severely  ;  but  by  God's  goodness  he  reco- 
vered. This  caused  their  ordination  to  be  de- 
ferred till  the  latter  end  of  March ;  when,  by 
letters  dimissory  from  the  Bishop  of  London, 
Dr.  Robinson,  near  the  point  of  death,  to  Dr. 
Green,  then  Bishop  of  Norwich,  and  Rector  of 
St.  Martin's,  they  were  ordained  by  the  latter, 
first  Deacons,  and  then  Priests,  in  St.  Martin's 
church.  They  now  proposed  shortly  to  make  a 
visit  to  Oxford.  But  within  a  week  Mr.  Brown 
was  seized  with  the  small-pox,  which  proved 
fatal  to  him  !  He  expired  on  Easter  Eve— to 
the  great  loss  of  the  church,  and  the  inexpres- 
sible grief  of  his  two  friends,  especially  of  Mr. 

n  2 


Wi  LIFE   OF   DR.   JOHNSON'. 

Johnson.  He  was  universally  allowed  by  all 
competent  judges,  to  be  one  of  the  most  pro- 
mising young  men  that  his  country  had  ever 
produced. 

In  the  beginning  of  May,  Mr.  Cutler  and  Mr. 
Johnson,  in  prosecution  of  their  former  inten- 
tions, went  to  Oxford.  On  their  arrival,  they 
found  that  their  friend  Dr.  Astry,  had  procured 
from  the  university  the  degree  of  Doctor  ii 
Divinity  for  Mr.  Cutler,  and  that  of  Master  ol 
Arts  for  Mr.  Johnson,  and  that  the  diplom; 
were  prepared :  these  were  respectfully  pre- 
sented to  them  by  Dr.  Shippen,  the  Vice-Chan- 
cellor. The  kindness  and  politeness  with  which 
they  were  treated  by  the  heads  and  fellows  ol 
the  houses  in  general,  exceeded  their  highest 
expectations.  These  gentlemen  all  seemed  tc 
study  what  could  be  done  to  increase  the  happi- 
ness of  these  American  visitants.  On  this  occa- 
sion, Dr.  Delauhe,  President  of  St.  John's 
College,  and  Dr.  John  Burton,  Fellow'of  Corpus 
Christi,  with  whom  Mr.  Johnson  afterwards 
held  a  correspondence,  particularly  distinguish- 
ed themselves  by  their  acts  of  friendship. 

After  spending  a  most  delightful  fortnight  at 
Oxford,  Dr.  Cutler  and  Mr.  Johnson  returned 
to  London  ;  and,  in  the  beginning  of  June,  they 
made  a  visit  to  the  university  of  Cambridge, 


u  i  i:  or  DR.  JOHNSON.  37 

where  Dr.  Snape  was  Vice-Chancellor,  and 
where  they  were  admitted  to  the  same  degrees, 
and  treated  in  the  same  respectful  manner  as  at 
Oxford.  Mr.  Wetmore,  who  had  lately  arrived 
in  England,  accompanied  them  in  this  tour. 
After  spending  a  fortnight  at  this  university,  they 
came  back  to  the  metropolis.  The  remainder  of 
the  time,  before  their  embarkation  for  America, 
was  employed  in  conversing  with  their  friends, 
in  seeing  the  curiosities  in  and  about  London, 
and  in  making  short  excursions  to  Windsor, 
Hampton  Court,  Greenwich,  &c.  &c. 

They  received  their  letters  of  licence  from 
Bishop  Gibson,  who,  by  this  time,  had  been 
translated  from  Lincoln  to  London.  With  this 
learned  and  excellent  prelate  they  conversed 
frequently,  on  the  state  of  the  church  in  the 
colonies.  They  urged  the  necessity,  as  they  had 
repeatedly  done  with  their  friends  in  London, 
and  at  both  the  universities,  of  sending  Bishops 
to  America;  representing  it  as,  in  their  humble 
opinion,  a  dishonour  to  the  Christian  and  Episco- 
pal nation  of  England,  that  America,  which  had 
been  planted  for  one  hundred  years,  and  con- 
tained a  large  number  of  Episcopal  congrega- 
tions, should  still  be  without  some  of  the  most 
important  offices  of  the  church,  for  want  of  an 
Episcopate.  His  Lordship  was  of  the  same 


38  LIFE  OF  DR.  JOHNSON. 

opinion  with  them  ;  and,  the  next  year,  on  occa- 
sion of  the  Jacobites  sending  two  Bishops  over 
to  the  colonies,  he  entered  warmly  into  the  affair ; 
but  he  could  not  prevail  with  the  ministry  to 
give  his  proposal  the  attention  it  deserved.  He 
continued  to  be  zealous  for  such  an  establishment 
as  long  as  he  lived ;  and  condescended,  in  many 
kind  letters,  to  correspond  with  Mr*  Johnson, 
on  that  and  other  subjects  relating  to  the  church. 

Taking  leave  of  their  friends  in  London,  Dr. 
Cutler  and  Mr.  Johnson  embarked  for  America 
on  the  26th  of  July ;  and  after  a  pleasant  pas- 
sage, landed  at  Piscataqua ;  whence  they  pro- 
ceeded directly  to  Boston.  On  the  4th 
November,  1723,  Mr.  Johnson  arrived  at  his 
mission  in  Stratford,  and  was  joyfully  received 
by  his  little  flock.  Mr.  Pigot  then  hastened  to 
his  charge  at  Providence. 

At  that  time  there  were  about  thirty  Episcopal 
families  at  Stratford,  but  all  of  them  poor ;  and 
about  forty  more  in  the  neighbouring  towns  of 
Fairfield,  Norwalk,  Newtown,  Ripton,and  West 
Haven :  at  each  of  which  places  Mn  Johnson 
agreed  to  officiate  once  every  three  months,  but 
chiefly  on  week  days.  He  was  then  the  only 
Episcopal  clergyman  in  the  colony,  and  found 
himself  on  all  sides  surrounded  by  bitter  ad- 
versaries. He  was  generally  considered  and 


LIFE  OF  DR.  JOHNSON.  39 

treated  as  a  schismatic  and  apostate ;  and  the 
people  seemed  to  be  resolved,  by  thwarting  him, 
and  rendering  his  situation  uneasy,  to  drive 
him,  if  possible,  from  the  country.  However, 
he  had  prepared  himself  for  such  treatment,  and 
showed  a  steadiness  and  firmness  of  mind  equal 
to  the  occasion.  He  still  preserved  his  wonted 
cheerfulness  and  benevolence  of  temper,  and 
conversed  with  those  who  had  been  formerly  his 
friends,  when  they  gave  him  an  opportunity, 
with  his  usual  frankness.  At  first  they  were  sus- 
picious, and  shy  of  him  ;  but,  at  length,  won  by 
his  courteous,  prudent,  and  obliging  behaviour, 
many  of  them  returned  to  their  former  good 
humour,  and  others  abated  much  of  their  se- 
venty. 

Some,  who  did  not  personally  know  him,  took 
him  to  be  a  man  of  deep  design  and  much 
worldly  policy.  They  were  unable  to  conceive 
it  possible,  that  he  could  have  conformed  to  the 
church  from  any  other  motive  than  merely  to 
advance  his  temporal  interest.  But  they  who 
were  best  acquainted  with  him  knew  him  to 
be  so  far  from  being  governed  by  mercenary 
views  in  any  thing,  that  he  was  rather  apt  to  be 
negligent  of  his  worldly  affairs,  even  to  a  fault. 
Of  this  he  was  sensible  himself;  and  therefore, 
as  he  found  it  impossible  to  live  among  his  poor 


40  LIFE   OF   DK.   JOHNSON. 

people  with  any  tolerable  decency,  without 
keeping  house,  he  thought  it  highly  expedient 
to  marry  some  person  in  whose  experienced 
economy  he  could  safely  confide. 

Exactly  such  a  person,  and  one  possessed  of 
many  other  excellent  qualities,  he  had  the  good 
fortune  to  find  in  Mrs.  Charity  Nicoll,  to  whom 
he  was  married  September  26,  1725,  being  thei 
in  the  29th  year  of  his  age.  She  was  a  daughter 
of  Colonel  Richard  Floyd,  and  the  widow  of 
Benjamin  Nicoll,  Esquire,  of  Long  Island  ;  by 
whom  she  had  two  sons,  William  and  Benjamin, 
and  one  daughter.  After  this  marriage,  Mr. 
Johnson  undertook  to  instruct  her  sons  in  the 
languages,  and  to  superintend  their  education 
which  office  he  performed  with  the  utmos 
vigilance,  care,  and  affection.  They  were  bot] 
sent  to  the  college  at  New  Haven  in  1730,  an< 
graduated  at  the  common  period. 

About  the  year  1726,  Mr.  Johnson  lost  his 
father,  aged  fifty-seven  years.  He  was  a  man 
of  integrity  and  good  understanding.  He 
fond  of  reading ;  and  at  last  was  so  well  recon- 
ciled to  the  church,  that  nothing  but  want  of 
opportunity  prevented  his  becoming  one  of  its 
communicants.  Mrs.  Johnson,  his  wife,  died 
a  year  before  him. 

At  this  time  Mr.  Burnet,  a  son  of  the  famous 


LIFK   OK    DK.   JOHNSON.  41 

Bishop  of  Salisbury,  was  the  Governor  of  New 
York.  He  was  a  lover  of  books,  and  a  consider- 
able scholar ;  and  never  was  happier  than  when 
in  the  company  of  men  who  were  able  to  con- 
verse on  the  various  subjects  of  literature.  With 
him  Mr.  Johnson,  who  frequently  made  visits 
to  New  York,  was  a  favourite :  but  this  con- 
nection at  length  brought  the  latter  into  much 
perplexity  of  mind.  The  Governor,  whose  ec- 
centrical genius  was  not  to  be  confined  within 
the  vulgar  limits  of  orthodoxy,  had  greedily  im- 
bibed, and  made  himself  master  of,  the  princi- 
ples of  Dr.  Clarke,  relating  to  the  Holy  Trinity, 
and  of  Bishop  Hoadly,  relating  to  ecclesiastical 
authority  ;  and  he  was  zealous  and  alert  in  his 
attempts  to  proselyte  his  friends  to  his  own 
way  of  thinking.  He  flattered  ^himself  with 
the  expectation  of  succeeding  with  Mr.  Johnson 
in  particular  ;  as  he  knew  him  to  be  no  dogma- 
tist, but  inquisitive,  and  from  an  impartial  love 
of  truth,  willing  to  read  and  examine  any  thing 
that  was  offered  him.  Accordingly  he  assailed 
him  with  all  his  strength  and  dexterity,  and  fur- 
nished him  with  the  best  books  that  had  been 
written  by  Clarke,  Whiston,  Hoadly,  Jackson,  I 
Sykes,  and  others  on  that  side  of  the  question, 
both  in  the  Trinitarian  and  Bangorian  contro- 
versy. Mr.  Johnson,  who  read  these  authors 


42  LIFE  OF  DR.    JOHNSOX. 

willingly,  could  not  but  admire  them  as  writers, 
but  was  much  shocked  with  observing  their 
artifices  and  subtilties.  Yet  had  it  not  been 
for  his  habitual  principle  and  resolution  to  act 
impartially,  and  to  examine  things  with  the 
greatest  care  and  exactness  on  both  sides,  he 
would  have  been  in  no  small  danger  (and  in- 
deed for  some  time  he  actually  was  in  danger) 
of  being  borne  down  by  the  weight  of  their  rea- 
sonings, or,  at  least,  deluded  by  the  plausible 
appearance  of  their  arguments. 

In  order  to  do  justice  to  the  cause  of  truth, 
in  these  cases  of  no  small  importance,  Mr.  John- 
son, having  read  the  before-mentioned  authors 
with  his  usual  impartiality  set  himself  down  t< 
examine,  with  great  care  and  exactness,  what 
had  been  offered  on  the  other  side,  in  the  Trini- 
tarian controversy,  by  Bishop  Bull,  Bishop 
Pearson,  Dr.  Waterland,  and  others  ;  and  in  the 
Bangorian  controversy,  by  Dr.  Rogers,  Bishop 
Sherlock,  Bishop  Hare,  Bishop  Potter,  Dr. 
Snape,  and  Mr.  Law.  He  was  sensible  that 
this  examination  required  the  prudent  exertion 
of  all  his  abilities,  which  he  bestowed  upon  it 
very  seriously  and  conscientiously. 

In  the  process  of  his  inquiries  under  the  first 
head,  he  was  convinced,  more  than  he  ever  had 
been,  that  the  only  way  of  coming  at  the  truth, 


MFE  OF   DR.  JOHNSON.  43 

was  to  lay  aside  all  preconceived  schemes,  and 
every  hypothesis  for  accounting  philosophically 
for  the  modus  of  the  Trinity,  which  is  beyond 
the  reach  of  our  faculties  ;  and  to  have  recourse 
to  the  Scriptures  themselves  in  the  original  lan- 
guages, in  order  to  find  what  they  really  teach  ; 
and  then  to  consider  the  sublimer  doctrines  of 
revealed  religion,  not  as  subjects  of  philoso- 
phical disquisition,  but  as  truths  or  facts  which 
the  Scriptures  assert.  He  therefore  went  on, 
in  this  manner,  to  inform  himself  whether  the 
sacred  writings  do  or  do  not,  in  fact,  teach 
the  doctrine  of  a  co-essential  Trinity  in  the  one 
essence  of  the  Deity ;  and  whether  they  do  or 
do  not  assert,  that  Christ  and  the  Holy  Ghost 
are  God,  in  the  same  sense  of  the  word  as  when 
it  is  applied  to  the  Father.  He  then  proceeded 
to  inquire  into  the  sense  of  the  Primitive  Church, 
with  regard  to  these  points,  reading  the  original 
writers  that  are  still  extant.  Consulting  the 
fathers  only  as  witnesses  of  the  fact,  he  was 
anxious  to  discover,  with  certainty,  not  so  much 
the  opinion  of  individuals,  as  whether  or  not 
the  doctrine  of  the  Trinity,  or  of  the  proper 
divinity  of  Christ  and  the  Holy  Ghost,  was 
generally  taught  and  believed  in  the  Church, 
for  several  ages  immediately  succeeding  that  of 
the  Apostles.  The  result  of  this  laborious  ex- 


44  LIFE  OF  DR.  JOHNSON. 

animation  was,  a  full  conviction  both  of  the 
truth  and  importance  of  the  doctrine  of  the 
Trinity ;  in  the  firm  belief  of  which  he  after- 
wards continued  to  the  last,  without  wavering. 

It  was  indeed  no  small  instance  of  self-denial 
in  a  man  of  his  turn  of  mind,  to  submit  his  un- 
derstanding to  the  obedience  of  faith.  He  was 
desirous  of  seeing  to  the  bottom  of  things,  and, 
consequently,  disposed  to  reduce  the  doctrines 
of  Revelation  to  the  standard  of  his  own  reason. 
He  was  naturally  disposed  to  invent  hypotheses 
for  explaining  the  manner  of  divine  things,  and 
the  grounds  on  which  they  are  thus  represented 
to  us  in  Scripture  ;  and  to  use  the  same  liberty 
in  speculating  on  the  articles  of  faith  as  on  the 
phenomena  of  nature.  But  at  length  by  a  serious 
and  close  application  of  thought,  he  was  con- 
vinced of  the  folly  of  thus  speculating  on  subjects 
which  are  beyond  the  reach  of  our  faculties. 
Thus,  for  instance,  it  appeared  to  him,  that  it 
is  really  beyond  our  abilities  to  conceive  how 
the  Unity  Man  can  consist  of  Spirit,  Soul,  and 
Body,  as  how  the  Unity  God  can  consist  of 
Father,  Son,  and  Spirit.  And  that  God  and  man 
should  be  so  united  as  to  constitute  one  person, 
actuated  by  the  divinity,  was,  in  his  opinion,  as 
clearly  intelligible,  as  that  the  spirit  of  a  man 
should  be  so  united  to  his  body,  as  to  move  the 


1.1  FF.  OF    DR.   JOHNSON.  45 

whole  or  any  part  of  it,  by  the  bare  act  of 
volition. 

Upon  the  whole,  he  came  to  the  following 
conclusions,  which  were  ever  after  his  fixed 
principles  :  viz.  "  That  we  must  be  content 
chiefly,  if  not  only,  both  in  nature  and  revela- 
tion, with  the  knowledge  of  facts,  together  with 
their  designs  and  connections,  without  specu- 
lating much  further :  and,  that  one  great  end 
of  all  God's  discoveries,  both  in  nature  and 
grace,  is  to  mortify  our  pride  and  self-sufficiency 

—  to  make  us  duly  sensible  of  our  entire  de- 

. 
pendency — and  chiefly  to  engage  us  to  live  by 

faith  and  not  by  sight,  and  in  the  practice  of  every 
grace  and  virtue,  in  which  our  true  perfection 
and  happiness  altogether  consist." 

His  inquiry  into  the  merits  of  the  other  con- 
troversy was  not  attended  with  any  great  labour 
or  difficulty.  He  was  soon  able  to  satisfy  him- 
self that  Christ  and  his  Apostles  did  actually 
establish  a  certain  form  and  order  of  government 
in  the  church,  which,  as  to  all  its  essential  parts, 
was  to  continue  "  to  the  end  of  the  world  ;"  and 
that  it  was  not  left  to  the  discretion  of  any 
human  authority  to  alter  or  reject  it,  as  might 
best  suit  with  worldly  convenience. 

In  the  month  of  February,  1729,  Dr.  Berkeley, 
then  Dean  of  Derry ,  in  Ireland ,  arrived  in  America, 


40  LIFE  OF  DR.  JOHNSON. 

and  resided  two  years  and  a  half  in  Rhode  Island. 
That  he  was  a  man  of  a  truly  great  genius,  of 
profound  erudition,  of  a  fine  taste,  and  unbound- 
ed benevolence,  as  well  as  of  strict  and  ex- 
emplary piety,  is  known  not  only  in  America, 
but  throughout  Europe.  As  his  coming  to 
America  had  an  important  effect  upon  the  re- 
ligion and  learning  of  the  country ;  and  as  Dr. 
Johnson  always  considered  the  period  in  which 
Bishop  Berkeley  resided  in  this  country  as  one 
of  the  most  interesting  periods  of  his  life,  it  may 
not  be  amiss  to  give  a  more  particular  account 
of  that  extraordinary  person,  and  of  the  business 
that  brought  him  hither,  than  has  probably  been 
laid  before  the  American  reader  in  one  view. 
This  I  shall  now  do  by  the  assistance  of  Dr. 
Johnson's  papers,  and  other  information,  com- 
pared with  the  life  of  Bishop  Berkeley,  in  the 
Biographia  Eritannica ;  that  noble  and  lasting 
monument,  erected  in  honour  of  the  most  emi- 
nent worthies  of  Great  Britain  and  Ireland,  from 
the  earliest  ages  down  to  the  present  times ; 
and  of  which  it  has  been  said*,  in  the  words  of 
Virgil : 

11  Hie  manus  ob  patriam  pugnando  vulnera  passi ; 
Quique  sacerdotes  casti,  dum  vita  manebat ; 

*  By  Gilbert  West,  Esq. 


1  II  K   01    DH.  JOHNSON'.  47 

Quique  pii  vates,  et  Phoebo  digna  locuti ; 
Inventas  aut  qui  vitam  excoluere  per  artes ; 
Quique  sui  memores  alios  fecere  merendo  !" 

Dr.  Berkeley  was  the  son  of  a  worthy  Clergy- 
man in  Ireland,  and  was  born  in  1679.  His  pro- 
gress in  grammar  learning,  at  the  school  in 
Kilkenny,  was  so  rapid,  that  at  the  age  of  fifteen 
years  he  was  well  fitted  for  the  university,  and 
was  admitted  a  pensioner  of  Trinity  College, 
Dublin.  He  took  his  degrees  at  the  periods 
appointed  by  the  statutes,  and,  at  an  early  age, 
was  elected  a  fellow  of  the  college  ;  in  which  he 
resided  afterwards  for  about  twelve  years,  mak- 
ing a  distinguished  figure  in  many  branches  of 
learning,  and  giving  many  proofs  of  a  strong 
original  genius. 

In  1713,  having  been  some  years  in  holy 
orders,  he  went  over  to  England,  carrying  with 
him  a  recommendation  from  Dr.  Swift,  the 
celebrated  Dean  of  St.  Patrick's,  to  the  Earl  of 
Peterborough,  who  soon  appointed  him  his 
chaplain;  in  which  character  he  attended  his 
Lordship  on  his  embassy  to  Sicily  and  the 
Italian  States.  He  continued  abroad  four  years 
in  this  station,  and  improved  the  opportunity  in 
visiting  every  part  of  Italy  and  the  adjacent 
islands.  In  his  absence  the  university  of  Dublin 

t 


4S  LIFE  OF  DR.  JOHNSON. 

created  him  Doctor  in  Divinity,  by  diploma,  in 
1717.  After  finishing  this  delightful  tour,  he 
returned  to  Trinity  College,  and  prosecuted  his 
studies  with  his  accustomed  vigour. 

While  England  was  groaning  under  the  dis- 
tress occasioned  by  the  fatal  South  Sea  project, 
Dr.  Berkeley  published  An  Essay  towards  pre- 
venting the  Ruin  of  Great  Britain,  in  1721.  This 
seasonable,  judicious,  and  benevolent  produc- 
tion, together  with  his  known  excellent  and 
amiable  character,  induced  Mrs.  Hester  Van- 
homrigh,  the  Vanessa  of  Swift,  to  appoint  him 
one  of  her  executors,  and  residuary  legatee, 
although  she  had  never  seen  him  but  once ;  by 
which  appointment  and  devise  he  obtained  not 
less  than  four  thousand  pounds.  Soon  after,  by 
the  interest  of  the  Duke  of  Grafton,  the  Deanry 
of  Derry,  worth  eleven  or  twelve  hundred 
pounds,  per  annum,  was  conferred  upon  him. 

About  this  time  he  published  A  Proposal  for 
the  better  supplying  of  churches  in  the  American 
plantations  with  clergymen,  and  for  converting 
the  savages  to  Christianity,  by  erecting  a  college 
in  Bermudas.  The  first  branch  of  this  design 
appeared  to  him  in  the  light  of  importance  ;  but 
his  principal  view,  on  which  he  most  insisted  in 
his  Proposal,  was  to  train  up  a  competent  num- 
ber of  young  Indians,  in  succession,  to  be  em- 


LIFE  OF   DR.  JOHNSON'. 

ployed  as  missionaries  among  the  various  tribes 
of  Indians  bordering  upon  our  settlements.  It 
appeared  to  be  a  matter  of  very  material  conse- 
quence, that  persons  should  be  employed  in  this 
service  who  were  acquainted  with  the  languages 
necessary  to  be  used ;  and  he  had  also  a  strong 
persuasion  that  such  missionaries  as  he  proposed 
would  be  much  better  received  by  the  savages 
than  those  of  European  extraction.  These  Indian 
lads  were  to  be  procured  from  the  different 
tribes,  in  the  fairest  manner,  and  to  be  fed, 
cloathed,  and  instructed  at  the  expense  of  the 
institution.  The  expense  of  thus  maintaining 
them  was  computed  at  about  ten  pounds  sterling 
yearly  for  each. 

Why  Bermudas  was  chosen  for  the  place  of 
the  college  will  best  appear  from  the  Dean's  own 
words.  In  speaking  of  the  choice  of  a  situation, 
he  says,  "  It  should  be  in  a  good  air ;  in  a 
place  where  provisions  are  cheap  and  plenty; 
where  an  intercourse  might  easily  be  kept  up 
with  all  parts  of  America  and  the  islands ;  in 
a  place  of  security,  not  exposed  to  the  insults 
of  pirates,  savages,  or  other  enemies;  where 
there  is  no  great  trade,  which  might  tempt  the 
readers  or  fellows  to  become  merchants,  to  the 
neglect  of  their  proper  business ;  where  there 
are  neither  riches  nor  luxury  to  divert  or  lessen 

£ 


FE   OF  DR.  JOHNSON. 

their  application,  or  to  make  them  uneasy  an< 
dissatisfied  with  a  homely,  frugal  subsistence 
lastly,  where  the  inhabitants,  if  such  a  pla< 
may  be  found,  are  noted  for  innocence  an< 
simplicity  of  manners."  All  these  advantages, 
he  imagined,  were  to  be  found  in  the  islands  of 
Bermuda,  in  a  more  considerable  degree  than 
in  any  other  place  in  the  British  American  domi- 
nions. 

The  scheme,  for  some  time,  met  with  all  the 
encouragement  that  was  due  to  so  benevolent  a 
proposal.  The  king  granted  a  charter,  appoint- 
ing Dr.  Berkeley  the  first  president  of  the  in- 
tended college,  who  for  the  sake  of  this  office, 
with  a  salary  annexed  to  it  of  not  more  than  one 
hundred  pounds  per  annum,  was  desirous  of 
exchanging,  and  actually  signed  the  resignation 
of,  his  rich  Deanry.  Mr.  Thompson,  Mr. 
Rogers,  and  Mr.  King,  three  worthy  Clergy- 
men, Fellows  of  Trinity  College,  Dublin,  who 
were  in  a  fair  way  of  preferment  at  home,  agreed 
to  attend  him,  and  were  named  as  Fellows  in 
the  charter*. 

*  Dr.  Swift,  in  a  letter  to  Lord  Carteret,  gives  the  following 
humorous  account  of  the  Dean  and  his  scheme:  "  He  is,"  says 
he,  "  an  absolute  philosopher,  with  regard  to  money,  tides,  and 
power ;  and  for  three  years  past  hath  been  struck  with  a  notion 
of  founding  an  university  at  Bermudas,  by  a  charter  from  the 


LIFE  OF  DR.  JOHNSON'.  51 

The  monies  arising  from  the  sale  of  lands  in 
St.  Christopher's,  that  were  ceded  to  the  British 
crown  by  the  treaty  of  Utrecht,  amounted  to 
eighty  thousand  pounds ;  and  Queen  Anne  de- 
signed that  sum  as  a  fund  for  the  support  of  four 
American  Bishops.  But  that  design  failing  by 
her  death,  Dr.  Berkeley,  by  the  dint  of  appli- 
cation and  address,  notwithstanding  Sir  Robert 
Walpole's  opposition,  procured  a  parliamentary 
grant  of  twenty  thousand  pounds  of  that  money, 
for  the  establishment  of  his  college. 

On  the  first  day  of  August,  1728,  the  Dean 
married  a  daughter  of  the  Right  Honourable 
John  Forster,  Esquire,  the  Speaker  of  the  Irish 
House  of  Commons.  This  engagement,  how- 
ever, was  so  far  from  retarding  his  design,  that 
he  actually  sailed,  in  the  execution  of  it,  about 
i 

crown.  He  hath  seduced  several  of  the  hopefullest  young 
clergymen,  and  others  here,  many  of  them  well  provided  for, 
and  all  of  them  in  the  fairest  way  of  preferment :  but  in  England 
his  conquests  are  greater ;  and,  I  doubt  not,  will  spread  very 
far  this  winter.  He  showed  me  a  little  tract,  which  he  designs 
to  publish ;  and  there  your  Excellency  will  see  his  whole 
scheme  of  a  life  academico-philosophical,  at  a  college  founded 
for  Indian  scholars  and  missionaries ;  where  he  most  ex- 
orbitantly proposeth  a  whole  hundred  pounds  a  year  for  him- 
self, forty  pounds  for  a  fellow,  and  ten  pounds  for  a  student. 
His  heart  will  break  if  his  Deanry  be  not  taken .  from  him, 
and  left  to  your  Excellency's  diposal." 

E  2 


52  LIFE  OF   DR.  JOHNSON. 

the  middle  of  September  following,  his  lady  and 
her  sister  accompanying  him.  He  came  imme- 
diately to  Rhode  Island,  with  a  view  of  settling 
a  correspondence  there,  for  supplying  his  college 
with  such  provisions  as  might  be  wanted  from 
the  northern  colonies.  But  soon  after  his  arrival 
he  was  convinced  that  he  had  been  greatly  mis- 
informed with  regard  to  the  state  of  Bermudas, 
and  that  the  establishment  of  a  college  there 
would  not  answer  his  purpose.  He  then  wrote 
to  his  friends  in  England,  requesting  them  to 
get  the  patent  altered  for  some  place  on  the 
American  continent,  which  would,  probably 
have  been  New  York ;  and  to  obtain  the  pay- 
ment of  the  sum  that  had  been  granted  him. 

Accordingly,  Bishop  Gibson  applied  to  Sii 
Robert  Walpole,  then  at  the  head  of  the  tre* 
sury,  in  his  behalf;  but  the  answer  was  un- 
favourable. With  regard  to  the  requests  for  the 
payment  of  the  money,  Sir  Robert  replied  :  "  If 
you  put  the  question  to  me  as  a  minister,  I  must 
and  can  assure  you  that  the  money  shall  most 
undoubtedly  be  paid,  as  soon  as  suits  with 
public  convenience;  but  if  you  ask  me  as  a 
friend,  whether  Dean  Berkeley  should  continue 
in  America,  expecting  the  payment  of  twenty 
thousand  pounds,  I  advise  him,  by  all  means, 
to  return  home  to  Europe,  and  to  give  up  his 


LIFE  OF   DK.  JOHNSON.  53 

present  expectations."  The  Dean,  being  in- 
formed of  this  conversation  by  his  good  friend 
the  Bishop,  and  fully  convinced  that  his  whole 
plan  was  defeated,  resolved  to  return  to  England ; 
and  accordingly  he  embarked  at  Boston,  in 
September,  1731.  Not  long  after  the  whole 
eighty  thousand  pounds  above-mentioned  was 
given  to  the  Princess  Anne,  on  her  marriage 
with  thePrince  of  Orange. 

In  November,  1733,  the  Dean  was  informed, 
by  a  letter  from  the  Duke  of  Newcastle,  one  of 
the  secretaries  of  state,  that  it  was  the  king's 
pleasure  to  promote  him  to  the  see  of  Cloyne. 
This  promotion  he  neither  sought  nor  desired ; 
and  at  the  time  of  accepting  it  he  determined 
never  to  consent  to  a  translation.  Thus,  when 
the  Bishoprick  of  Clogher  was  offered  him  in 
1746,  the  income  of  which  was,  at  least,  double 
to  that  of  Cloyne,  he  made  his  excuse,  and  re- 
fused to  accept  the  offer.  He  constantly  resided 
in  his  diocese,  from  the  time  of  his  consecration 
(one  winter  excepted,)  till  the  year  1752,  in  the 
faithful  discharge  of  all  Episcopal  duties,  and  in 
studying  to  promote  the  spiritual  and  temporal 
happiness  of  his  fellow  creatures,  by  every  me- 
thod within  his  power. 

In  the  year  last  mentioned  he  took  a  journey 
to  Oxford,  in  order  to  superintend,  for  some 


54 


LIFE  OF  DR.  JOHNSON. 


time,  at  that  university,  the  education  of  his 
son,  who  afterwards  became  a  clergyman  oi 
distinction,  being  promoted  to  the  rectory  oi 
Acton  in  Middlesex,  to  a  Doctorate  of  Laws, 
and  to  a  Prebend  in  the  cathedral  of  Canterbury, 
On  the  14th  of  January  following,  it  being  Sun- 
day, the  good  Bishop  while  sitting  with  his  fa- 
mily at  tea,  in  apparent  health,  and  just  after  h< 
had  explained  to  them  the  15th  chapter  of  Si 
Paul's  first  Epistle  to  the  Corinthians,  instanta- 
neously expired  in  his  chair,  without  the  least 
struggle  or  groan,  and  even  without  the  notice 
of  the  company  that  was  present.     He   w; 
buried  at   Christ   Church,    Oxford;    where 
handsome  marble  monument  is  erected  to  hit 
memory,  with  the  following  inscription,  drawi 
by  the  classical  and  elegant  pen  of  Dr.  Markham, 
Bishop  of  Chester*. 

Gravissimo  Praesuli 
Georgio,  Episcopo  Clonensi : 

Viro, 

Seu  Ingenii  et  Eruditionis, 
Seu  Probitatis  et  Beneficentiae, 

Laudem  spectemus ; 

Inter  summos  omnium  ^Etatum 

Numerando. 

*  Afterwards  Archbishop  of  York.         Ed. 


LIFE  OF  DR.  JOHNSON.  55 

Si  Christianus  fueris, 

Si  amans  Patrise, 

Utroque  nomine  gaudere  potes 

BERKELEIUM  vixisse. 

Natus  Anno  1679. 

Obiit 

Annum  agens  Septuagesimum  tertium. 

Hoc  Monumentum 

Anna  Conjux 

L.  M.  P. 

And  on  a  square  stone  over  his  grave  is  this  line : 

To  BERKELEY  every  virtue  under  heaven. 

POPE. 

Mr.  Johnson  was  no  stranger  to  Dr.  Berkeley's 
character  before  he  came  to  America,  and  had 
read  his  Principles  of  Human  Knowledge,  with 
much  pleasure.  As  soon,  therefore,  as  he  heard 
of  his  arrival  at  Rhode  Island,,  he  made  it  his  busi- 
ness to  wait  upon  him,  to  pay  him  the  respect 
that  was  due  to  him,  and  to  have  an  opportunity 
of  conversing  with  so  eminent  a  scholar.  The 
Dean  received  him  with  kindness  and  affec- 
tion, and  conversed  with  him,  on  all  subjects, 
with  the  greatest  condescension  and  freedom. 
From  this  time  a  correspondence  by  letters  com- 
menced between  them,  which  continued  as  long 


56 


LIFE  OF  DK.  JOHNSON. 


as  they  both  lived.      Mr.   Johnson  afterwards 
visited  him  repeatedly,  being  desirous  of  making 
the  most  of  such  an  happy  opportunity  as  the 
Dean's  residence  in  America  afforded,  to  im- 
prove himself  in  useful  science.     Many  difficul- 
ties that  had  attended  his  theological  inquiri< 
were,  by  this  means,  removed ;  and  he  became 
an  entire  convert  to  the  Dean's  philosophic; 
system.     It  appeared  to  him  to  be  the  most 
effectual    method    for    precluding    scepticism, 
whatever  use  some  writers  may  since  have  made 
of  it ;  and  that  it  left  no  room,  like  other  sys 
terns,  for  endless  doubts  and  uncertainties,  in 
y  matters  of  real  importance.     The  denial  of 
the  existence  of  matter,  at  first  seemed  whimsi- 
cal and  romantic  ;  but  it  was  for  want  of  undei 
standing  the  sense  in  which  it  was  denied :  fc 
he  found  that  it  was  only  the  idle,  unintelligible 
scholastic  notion  of  matter,  as  essentially  con- 
sisting of  such  a  substratum  as  no  human  creature 
could   conceive,   the   Dean  meant  to  oppose; 
substituting  in  the  room  of  it  a  stated  union  and 
combination  of  sensible  ideas,  excited  from  with- 
out by  some  intelligent  being.     This  scheme,  in 
his  opinion,  was  attended  with  this  vast  advan- 
tage, that  it  not  only  exhibited  new  and  incon- 
testible  evidence  of  the  existence  of  the  Deity, 
but  also  tended  to  impress  the  mind  with  a 


LIFE  OF  DR.  JOHNSON.  57 

much  stronger  sense  of  his  perpetual  presence 
and  immediate  agency  in  the  production  of 
events,  and  consequently  of  our  dependence 
upon  him,  and  our  obligations  to  him,  than  any 
other  system.  On  these  accounts  Mr.  Johnson 
wished  that  Dr.  Berkeley's  writings  might  be 
fairly  considered,  and  carefully  studied ;  and  he 
did  all  in  his  power  to  introduce  them  to  the 
notice  of  the  literati. 

While  the  Dean  resided  at  Rhode  Island,  he 
composed  his  Alciphrony  or  Minute  Philosopher ; 
written  by  way  of  dialogue,  in  the  manner  of 
Plato.  The  design  of  it  was  to  vindicate  the 
Christian  religion,  in  answer  to  the  various  ob- 
jections and  cavils  of  atheists,  libertines,  enthu- 
siasts, scorners,  critics,  metaphysicians,  fatalists, 
and  sceptics.  In  the  advertisement  prefixed  to 
these  dialogues,  the  author  affirms,  that  he  was 
"  well  assured  one  of  the  most  noted  writers 
against  Christianity  had  declared,  he  had  found 
out  a  demonstration  against  the  being  of  a  God/' 
Mr.  Johnson,  in  one  of  his  visits  to  the  Dean, 
conversing  with  him  on  the  subject  of  the  work 
then  in  hand,  was  more  particularly  informed  by 
him — that  he  himself  (the  Dean)  had  heard  this 
strange  declaration,  while  he  was  present  in  one 
of  the  deistical  clubs,  in  the  pretended  charac- 
ter of  a  learner — that  Collins  was  the  man  who 


58 


LIFE  OF   DR.  JOHNSON. 


made  it — and  that  the  demonstration  was  what 
he  afterwards  published,  in  an  attempt  to  prov< 
that  every  action  is  the  effect  of  fate  and  nec< 
sity,  in  his  book  entitled,  A  Philosophical  Inquiry 
concerning  Human  Liberty.     And,  indeed,  could 
the  point  be  once  established,  that  every  thing 
is  produced  by  fate  and  necessity,  it  would  nj 
turally  follow,  that  there  is  no  God,  or  that  h< 
is  a  very  useless  and  insignificant  being,  whicl 
amounts  to  the  same  thing.     As  this  stran^ 
anecdote  deserves  to  be  more  generally  knowi 
a  place  is  given  it  in  this  memoir. 

When  the  Dean  was  about  leaving  Americi 
Mr.  Johnson  made  him  his  final  visit.     As  he 
retained  a  strong  affection  for  Yale  College,  tin 
seminary  in  which  he  was  educated,  and  wil 
which  he  had  been  otherwise  connected,  he  tool 
the  liberty,  on  this  occasion,  to  recommend  it  t< 
the  Dean's  notice ;  hoping  that  he  might  thinl 
proper  to  send  it  some  books,  and  not  expect- 
ing, or  aiming  at  any  thing  further.     But  within 
two  years  from  that  time,  Dr.  Berkeley,  assisted 
by  several  gentlemen  who  had  subscribed  money 
for  his  intended  college  at  Bermuda,  sent  over 
a  valuable  collection  of  books,  as  a  present 
Vale  College.     Tt  amounted,  including  what  hi 
had  given  before,  to  near  one  thousand  volumes, 
of  which  two  hundred  and  sixty  were  in  folio, 


LIFE  OF  DR.  JOHNSON.  59 

and  very  large.  The  cost  of  this  collection 
could  have  been  little  less  than  five  hundred 
pounds  sterling.  At  or  about  the  same  time  he 
transmitted  to  Mr.  Johnson  a  deed,  in  which  he 
conveyed  to  that  college  his  farm  in  Rhode 
Island,  consisting  of  ninety-six  acres.  The  an- 
nual interest  of  it  was  to  be  divided  between 
three  bachelors  of  arts,  who,  upon  examination 
by  the  rector  of  the  college,  and  a  minister  of 
the  Church  of  England,  should  appear  to  be  the 
best  classical  scholars ;  provided  they  would  re- 
side at  college  the  three  years  between  their 
bachelor's  and  master's  degrees,  in  the  prosecu- 
tion of  their  studies ;  and  the  forfeitures,  in  case 
of  non- residence,  were  to  be  given  in  premiums 
of  books,  to  those  that  performed  the  best  exer- 
cises. 

These  were  most  valuable  and  important  do- 
nations, judiciously  adapted  to  the  state  of  the 
college;  yet,  as  they  came  from  a  wrong  quar- 
ter, that  is,  from  a  clergyman  of  the  Church  of 
England,  the  trustees  were  almost  afraid  to  ac- 
cept of  them.  However,  they  soon  put  on  the 
appearance  of  much  gratitude  to  their  benefac- 
tor, who  was  their  sincere  friend,  and  had  no 
other  view  than  to  promote  the  interest  and  re- 
putation of  their  college. 

One  would  imagine  that,  after  this,  the  pa- 


60  LIFE  OF  DK.  JOHNSON. 

Irons  of  the  college  would,  at  least  for  some  time, 
behave  with  decency,  if  not  with  respect,  to- 
wards the  church.  But,  at  the  very  next  com- 
mencement, as  afterwards  appeared,  Mr.  Wil- 
liams, the  rector,  entered  into  a  combination  with 
the  Hampshire  ministers,  his  father  being  at  the 
head  of  them,  to  try,  if  it  were  possible,  to  get 
the  members  of  the  church,  of  which  there  were 
now  six  or  seven  congregations  in  Connecticut, 
deprived  of  their  ministers,  by  contriving  that 
the  latter  should  be  stripped  of  their  salaries. 
This  is  evident  from  their  letter  to  the  Bishop 
of  London,  transmitted  by  Dr.  Colman;  which 
was  full  of  groundless  and  unwarrantable  com- 
plaints. In  this  unjustifiable  attempt  they  were, 
however,  as  was  to  be  expected,  wholly  unsu< 
cessful. 

Mr.  Johnson  had  resided  at  Stratford  for  a 
number  of  years,  in  the  regular  and  prudent  dis- 
charge of  parochial  duties ;  but  the  church  there 
had  increased  but  little,  as  all  possible  care  had 
been  taken  to  prevent  its  growth,  and  as  he  did 
not  make  it  his  business  to  proselyte  the  dissen- 
ters. But  in  the  neighbouring  towns,  where  he 
sometimes  officiated,  many  families  conformei 
In  Fairfield  a  considerable  congregation  sooi 
grew  up;  and,  in  1725,  Mr.  Henry  Caner,  edu 
cated  at  Yale  College,  and  a  candidate  for  hoi 


LIKE  OF   DR.  JOHXSOK.  (>  1 

orders,  afterwards  a  Doctor  in  Divinity,  and 
minister  of  King's  Chapel,  Boston,  began  to 
read  prayers  there.  In  1727,  Mr.  Caner  went 
to  England  for  ordination,  and  the  society  ap- 
pointed him  their  missionary  to  Fairfield.  His 
occasional  services  at  Norwalk  greatly  recom- 
mended the  church ;  and  it  was  not  long  before 
he  had  a  respectable  congregation  there,  as  well 
as  at  Fairfield. 

Mr.  Johnson,  in  his  excursions,  often  preached 
at  Newtown,  with  peculiar  success.  At  that 
time  MKBeach,  since  well  known  by  his  many 
able  defences  of  the  doctrine  and  government  of 
the  Church  of  England,  was  the  congregational 
minister  of  the  place ;  and  was  in  high  estima- 
tion not  only  there,  but  among  the  dissenters  in 
Stratford,  for  his  learning  and  piety.  After  a 
while  this  gentleman  began  to  doubt  of  the  vali- 
dity of  the  ordination  he  had  received.  For  a 
considerable  time  he  endeavoured  to  get  over 
his  scruples,  but,  in  the  end,  he  found  it  impos- 
sible. He  therefore  declared  his  conformity  to 
the  church  in  1732,  and  many  of  his  people  con- 
formed with  him  ;  on  which  he  went  to  England 
for  holy  orders,  and  was  appointed  their  minister. 

This  event  put  many  on  thinking,  and  had  no 
small  effect  upon  the  dissenters  at  Stratford. 
Mr.  Beach's  brother,  a  man  of  distinction  and 


62  LIFE  OF   DR.  JOHNSON. 

property  at  Stratford,  with  several  other  per- 
sons, in  a  short  time,  came  over  to  the  church. 
This  was  soon  followed  by  the  conformity  of 
""vl  Mr.  Seabury  * ;  who  took  holy  orders,  and  came 
over  the  society's  missionary  for  New  London, 
where  the  congregation  was  considerable.  This 
excellent  clergyman  continued  there  many 
years,  and  afterwards  removed  to  Hempstead, 
on  Long  Island,  where  he  died,  in  the  year  1763, 
leaving  behind  him  a  character  that  is  held  in 
high  esteem,  and  an  example  that  is  worthy  of 
all  imitation  f. 

When,  besides  Mr.  Johnson  at  Stratford,  Mr. 
Caner  was  settled  at  Fairfield,  Mr.  Beach  al 
Newtown,  and  Mr.  Seabury  at  New  London, 
the  church  began  to  make  a  visible  progress  in 
Connecticut;  insomuch  that  in  the  year  1736, 
when  an  inquiry  was  made  into  the  number  oi 
episcopal  families  in  the  whole  colony,  they 
were  found  to  be  no  less  than  seven  hundred. 
This  increase  was  not  altogether  owing  to  the 
labours  of  the  gentlemen  above-mentioned,  but 
was  partly  occasioned  by  the  dissenters  them- 
selves; who,  in  the  abundance  of  their  zeal, 

*  The  congregational  minister  of  Groton. 

t  The  late  Right  Rev.  Bishop  Seabury  was  a  son  of  this 
clergyman.  Ed. 


LIFE  OF   DU.   JOHNSON.  63 

carried  their  charges  of  Popery  against  the 
church,  and  their  other  misrepresentations,  to 
an  extravagant  length.  This  made  it  necessary 
for  the  members  of  the  church,  in  their  own  de- 
fence, to  procure  books  that  had  been  written  in 
its  vindication.  Many  of  the  more  candid  and 
inquisitive  dissenters  were  persuaded  to  read 
them ;  and  they  were  surprised  to  find  in  what 
manner  things  had  been  misrepresented  to  them 
— especially  after  they  ventured  so  far  as  to  ac- 
quaint themselves  with  the  liturgy,  and  the 
manner  of  our  public  service. 

But  what,  a  few  years  after,  more  effectually 
contributed   to  the  increase  of  the  church  in  I 
Connecticut,  was  a  strange,  wild  enthusaism,  j 
introduced  by  Mr.  Whitfield,  and  propagated  by 
his  followers  throughout  the  country.     At  the 
first  appearing  of  this_  adventurer,  who  was  in 
the  orders  of  the  Church  of  England,  and  still 
garb  of  her  clergy,  although  he  had 


violated  her  laws,  as  well  as  his  own  oath  of  ca- 
nonical obedience,  and  put  her  authority  at  defi- 
ance— he  was  received  with  all  the  marks  of 
high  approbation  and  applause  by  the  dissenting 
ministers  in  general.  Some  of  them  undoubt- 
edly looked  upon  him  as  an  extraordinary  per- 
son, raised  up  by  Providence,  like  John  the 
Baptist,  and  coming  in  the  spirit  and  power  of 


64  LIFK  OF   DR.  JOHXSOX. 

Elias,  to  rouse  sinners  from  their  spiritual  slum- 
ber, and  to  bring  men  to  seriousness  of  life,  and 
the  practice  of  piety;  and,  indeed,  there  is 
reason  to  believe  that  his  preaching  was  attended 
with  good  effects  in  several  instances.  But 
there  were  others  of  them  who  seemed  to  court 
him,  because  they  considered  him  rather  in  the 
light  of  an  instrument,  by  which  the  church  in 
Connecticut  might  be  crushed  in  her  infancy, 
or  at  least  her  growth  much  retarded.  This  it 
was  hoped  might  be  effected  by  his  bitter  re- 
vilings  of  her  bishops  and  clergy.  But  after  a 
while  many  of  his  abettors  were  convinced  of 
their  mistake,  and  saw  reason  to  repent  of  the 
countenance  they  had  shown  him.  Instead  of 
subverting,  or  even  so  much  as  shaking,  the 
Church  of  England,  he  nearly  occasioned  the 
utter  dissolution  of  their  own  churches. 

Soon  after  his  passing  through  the  country, 
several  preachers  undertook  to  be  Whitfields 
too.  They  endeavoured  to  proceed  in  his  man- 
ner, imitating  his  voice,  his  theatrical  action, 
his  vociferation ;  they  disregarded  all  the  rules 
of  ecclesiastical  order,  and  strolled  about  from 
place  to  place,  as  he  had  done.  It  was  not 
long  before  these  were  followed  by  a  numerous 
train  of  ignorant  lay-exhorters,  uttering  the  most 
horrid  expressions  concerning  God  and  religion, 


LIFE  OF  DR.  JOHNSON.  65 

and  proclaiming  in  the  most  affecting  tones,  and 
with  the  greatest  violence  and  extravagance  of 
gesture,  the  terrors  of  hell  and  damnation,  in 
order  to  bring  men  to  conversion.  In  several 
instances,  by  thus  exciting  the  emotions  of 
terror,  they  actually  frightened  persons  out  of 
the  use  of  their  reason.  Their  night  meetings 
in  particular,  at  some  of  which  Mr.  Johnson 
was  present  in  disguise,  exhibited  the  wildest 
scenes  of  confusion  and  uproar.  At  some  of 
those  assemblies,  a  number  of  persons  might 
be  seen  sighing,  groaning,  dreadfully  screeching, 
and  wringing  their  hands,  or  smiting  their 
breasts ;  the  preacher  or  exhorter,  all  the  while 
tormenting  them  like  a  fiend,  as  the  only  way 
to  bring  them  to  Christ ;  while  others,  who  had 
lately  been  converted  in  this  manner,  were  in 
the  greatest  ecstacies  and  raptures,  triumphantly 
singing  anthems  and  hallelujahs.  Of  these,  some 
would  fall  into  trances ;  in  which  they  conversed 
familiarly  with  Christ  and  his  angels,  and  saw 
who  were  to  be  saved,  and  who  damned  ;  and 
not  a  few  of  them  would  fall  to  censuring  and 
reviling,  as  pharisees  and  the  vilest  hypocrites, 
those  who  were  not  converted  in  this  way. 

These  transactions  at  length  threw  the  whole 
country  into  the  greatest  confusion,  and  were 
productive  of  divisions  and  separations  without 


GO  LIFE  OF   DR.  JOHNSON. 

end.  Many  of  the  wisest,  both  ministers  and 
people,  foresaw  the  mischief  that  threatened, 
when  it  was  too  late  to  prevent  it.  Enthusiasm, 
like  faction,  is  utterly  ungovernable ;  and  it  is 
not  in  the  power  of  the  ablest  conductors  to  say 
to  either  of  them,  hitherto  shalt  thou  go,  and  no 
farther.  In  the  larger  towns  altar  was  raised 
against  altar,  and  new  meeting  houses  were 
erected  in  opposition  to  the  old  ones.  Many 
pulpits  resounded  with  declamations  against  the 
wickedness  of  schism;  many  pamphlets  were 
published  to  prove  its  sinfulness ;  and  the  govern- 
ment thought  it  necessary  cpenly  to  discounte- 
nance it.  But  every  attempt  to  restrain  it  proved 
to  be  an  addition  to  its  force,  and  was  like 
throwing  in  oil  to  stop  the  fury  of  a  conflagra- 
tion. In  short  the  religious  constitution  of 
Connecticut  was  convulsed,  and  the  symptoms 
of  its  surviving  were  very  unpromising. 

G  Amidst  these  confusions,   large  numbers  of 
:ool   and  considerate    people,   finding   no   rest 
mong  the  dissenters,  betook  themselves  to  the 
:hurch,  as  the  only  ark  of  safety.     At  Stratfor 
in  particular,  many  of  the  principal  families  con- 

(  formed ;  so  that  the  church,  which  was  built  in 
1723,  was  not  sufficiently  large  to  contain  them. 
They  proceeded,  therefore,  to  erect  a  new  one, 
which  was  much  larger,  and  on  a  more  elegant 


; 


LIFE  OF  Pit.   JOHNSON".  6? 

plan  than  the  former.  It  was  begun  in  1743,  and 
opened  July  8,  1744 ;  on  which  occasion  Mr. 
Johnson  preached  an  excellent  sermon,  from 
Psalm  xxvi.  8.  which  was  published  at  the  re- 
quest of  the  hearers.  To  this  sermon,  concern- 
ing the  obligations  we  are  under  to  love  and  de- 
light in  the  public  worship  of  GocL  were  added, 
as  an  encouragement  for  family  worship,  forms 
of  prayer  proper  to  be  used  by  Christian  fami- 
lies, with  others  for  the  use  of  the  closet.  About 
the  same  time,  congregations  having  been  ga- 
thered, churches  were  built  in  many  other 
places,  as  at  Norwalk,  Stamford,  Reading, 
Darby,  West  Haven,  Ripton,  Guilford,  &c.  and 
several  young  gentlemen  of  character,  who  had 
been  educated  at  Yale  College,  conformed  and 
received  holy  orders*. 

The  Church  of  England  in  Connecticut,  being 
surrounded  with  enemies,  was  from  the  begin- 
ning, frequently  assaulted  in  the  way  of  open 
attack,  as  well  as  by  every  secret  stratagem  that 
could  be  devised.  This  obliged  Mr.  Johnson, 
and  afterwards  other  missionaries,  to  write  in  its 
defence.  In  1725,  one  of  Mr.  Johnson's  pa- 
rishioners was  zealously  attacked  by  Mr.  Dicken- 


*  Of  that  number  were  Dr.  Chandler  himself,  Drs.  Learning 
Dibblee,  Mansfield,  and  others.     Ed. 

F  2 


68  LIFE  OF   DR.  JOHNSON. 

son,  of  Elizabeth  Town,  New  Jersey,  (a  man 
of  parts  and  considerable  learning,  but  a  true 
zealot  against  the  Church)  on  the  subject  of 
Episcopacy.  Being  not  able  to  make  a  proper 
defence  against  such  an  antagonist,  he  applied 
to  Mr.  Johnson  for  his  assistance ;  who  drew  up  a 
sketch  of  the  common  arguments  in  favour  of 
the  doctrine  of  the  Church,  and  gave  it  to  him. 
This  the  man  sent  in  his  own  name,  as  an  an- 
swer to  Mr.  Dickenson,  and  soon  had  his  re- 
ply ;  to  which  Mr.  Johnson  furnished  him  with 
a  rejoinder.  Some  time  after  Mr.  Dickenson 
enlarged  and  printed  his  own  papers  in  this 
dispute ;  upon  which  Mr.  Johnson  thought  pro- 
per to  publish  what  he  had  written  on  the  other 
>ide.  Here  Mr.  Foxcroft,  of  Boston,  stepped  in, 
and  took  up  the  cause  against  the  Church,  writ- 
ing fully  and  largely,  and  more  artfully  than 
Mr.  Dickenson  had  done.  Mr.  Johnson  an- 
swered him,  and  no  reply  was  returned. 

While  this  controversy  was  depending,  about 
the  year  1732,  the  Church  in  Connecticut  was 
more  violently  and  rudely  attacked  by  Mr. 
Graham,  of  Woodbury,  in  a  scurrilous,  mali- 
cious, and  awkward  ballad  which  he  published. 
This,  together  with  the  earnest  request  of  Mr. 
Beach,  one  of  Mr.  Johnson's  principal  parishion- 
ers, who  had  been  charged  with  the  heinous  sin  of 


UFE  OF  DR.  JOHNSON.  69 

covenant-breaking,  because  he  left  the  Dissenters 
and  entered  into  the  communion  of  the  Church, 
determined  him  to  draw  up  and  publish  a  tract, 
containing  Plain  Reasons  for  conforming  to  the 
Church.  To  this,  in  the  year  following  Mr. 
Graham  wrote  an  answer.  Mr.  Johnson  replied 
to  it ;  Mr.  Graham  rejoined  ;  and  Mr.  Johnson 
defended  himself  a.nd  the  Church  in  a  third 
tract,  which  put  an  end  to  the  dispute.  These 
controversies  reached  down  to  1736. 

At  the  time  when  the  enthusaism  before- 
mentioned  became  rampant  in  Connecticut, 
placing  every  thing  in  absolute  predestination 
and  mere  sovereignty,  denying  that  there  are 
any  promises  made  in  Scripture  to  our  prayers 
and  endeavours,  and  leaving  no  ground  for  the 
practice  of  religion  on  any  consistent  and  rational 
principles,  Mr.  Johnson  published  an  excellent 
pamphlet,  under  the  title  of  A  Letter  from  Aris- 
tocles  to  Anthades.  The  design  of  it  was,  to 
place  the  doctrine  of  Scripture  relating  to  the 
divine  sovereignty  and  promises,  in  a  clear  and 
true  light.  Mr.  Dickenson  wrote  against  this 
piece;  and  it  was  defended,  in  a  candid  and 
masterly  manner,  in  a  letter  from  Mr.  Johnson 
to  Mr.  Dickenson. 

In  prosecution  of  his  general  plan,  for  check- 
ing the  progress  of  enthusaism,  and  counteract- 


LIFE  OF  DH.  JOHNSON. 

ing  the  absurd  doctrines  that  were  perpetually 
propagated  throughout  the  country,  Mr.  Johnson 
drew  up  a  system  of  morality,  containing  the 
first  principles  of  moral  philosophy,  or  ethics,  in 
a  chain  of  necessary  consequences  from  certain 
facts  ;  which  was  published  in  1746.  In  part  I. 
which  treats  of  the  speculative  part  of  moral  phi- 
losophy, the  author  particularly  considers  the 
nature  of  man,  his  excellence  and  imperfections 
— the  author  of  our  nature,  his  perfections  and 
operations — and  the  end  of  our  being,  with  the 
natural  proofs  of  a  future  state.  In  part  II.  con- 
cerning the  practical  part  of  moral  philosophy 
he  treats,  in  separate  chapters,  of  the  duties  in 
general  resulting  from  the  foregoing  truths — and 
particularly,  of  the  duties  which  we  owe  to  our- 
selves— of  those  we  owe  to  God — and  of  those 
which  are  due  to  our  fellow  creatures,  according 
to  their  various  stations  and  characters,  and  the 
relation  we  bear  to  them.  This  work  was  season- 
able, and  was  well  received  by  the  sober  and 
judicious  part  of  his  countrymen,  and  there  is 
reason  to  believe  that  it  had  a  good  effect  upon 
the  country  in  general. 

In  consequence  of  Mr.  Johnson's  signalizing 

himself  by  his  good  conduct,  and  his  numerous 

publications,    which    in    England    were   much 

i  aiulcd,    Ins    old  friend    Dr.  Astry,  recom- 


LIFE  OF  DK.  JOHNSON.  71 

mended  him  to  the  University  of  Oxford,  for 
the  degree  of  doctor  in  divinity;  which  was 
readily  and  unanimously  conferred  upon  him  by 
diploma,  in  February  1743.  Twenty  years 
before,  the  University,  in  the  diploma  given  him 
for  his  master's  degree,  used  this  expression : 
"  Sperantes  nempe,  illius  Ministerio,  aliam  et 
eandem,  olim,  nascituram,  Ecclesiam  Anglica- 
uam."  To  this  they  allude  in  their  present  di- 
ploma, as  partly  accomplished  in  the  late  great 
increase  of  the  Church,  in  which  he  had  been  in- 
strumental ;  and  Dr.  Astry,  in  his  letter  on  the 
occasion  of  transmitting  the  diploma,  tells  him, 
4<  He  did  not  so  much  consider  himself  as  doing 
a  good  office  to  a  private  friend,  as  promoting 
the  public  interest  of  religion."  Several  persons 
of  rank  and  distinction,  as  Dr.  Johnson  was  in- 
formed by  his  friend  Dr.  Astry,  were  very  active 
in  procuring  his  degree ;  particularly  Dr.  Seeker, 
then  Bishop  of  Oxford,  and  afterwards  Arch- 
bishop of  Canterbury,  and  Dr.  Hodges,  Provost 
of  Oriel  College,  and  Vice-Chancellor  of  the 
University.*  To  them  the  Doctor  made  his 

*  Dr.  Hodges,  in  his  oration  before  the  university,  Oct.  5, 
1 744,  when  he  resigned  the  office  of  vice-chancellor,  speaks  of 
this  degree  conferred  upon  Dr.  Johnson,  as  one  of  the  most 
agreeable  things  that  had  happened  during  his  administration. 
"  Fateor  autcm  me,"  says  he  "  Voluntati  vestrae  obsecundare 


72 


LIFE  OF  DR.  JOHNSOX. 


thankful  acknowledgments ;  and  in  his  letter  to 
Bishop  Seeker,  he  took  the  occasion  to  thank  him 
for  his  admirable  sermon,  then  lately  preached 
before  the  society  ;  in  which  he  had  excelled  all 
his  predecessors  in  pleading  the  cause  of  the 
Church  of  England  in  the  colonies,  and  had  par- 
ticularly urged  the  necessity  of  sending  Bishops 
to  America.  The  doctor  enlarged  on  the  neces- 
sity of  establishing  an  Episcopate  in  the  colo- 
nies, and  requested  his  lordship  to  continue  th< 
exertion  of  his  influence  and  great  abilities  to- 
wards obtaining  a  blessing  of  such  importance. 
The  Bishop  wrote  the  following  polite  and  kin< 
answer  to  him,  which  introduced  a  correspond- 
semper  paratum,  numquam  ad  jussa  vestra  capessenda  para- 
tiorem  accessisse  quam  in  illo  justissimo  decreto  exequendo, 
quo  egregium  virum*  in  propaganda  fide  apud  Indos  Occiden- 
tales  feliciter  occupatum  Doctorali  Gradu  voluistis  insigniri. 
Operi  tarn  divino  se  accingentem,  iterque  officio  tarn  pio  desti- 
natura  instituentem,  liberali  gradus  magistralis  viatico,  quo 
potuistis  utilissimo,  aliquando  olim  instuxistis.  Spes  vestras 
minime  fefellit  fidus  illi  Christi  Minister,  qui  ornamentum  ij 
delatum  in  usum  Ecclesiae  Deique  gloriam  egregie  convertel 
Erat  sequissimum,  ut  virtutem  ita  spectatam  viribus  vestris  el 
subsidiis  omnibus  aleretis,  promoveretis.  Illi,  qui  ex  una  min& 
lucrifacit  decem,  divini  nostri  magistn  sequaces  plura  et  hono- 
rificentiora  esse  committenda  jure  et  exemplo  summo  dccre- 
vistis."  See  Dr.  Hodges  s  Theological  Pieces,  Sfc.  p.  334. 

*  Satnutkm  Johnson. 


LIFE  OF  DR.  JOHNSON.  73 

ence  that  continued  till  near  the  time  of  his 
lordship's  death,  in  1768. 

"  St.  James's,  Westminster,  March  8,  1745. 

"  Sir, 

"  I  thank  you  heartily  for  the  favour  of  your 
obliging  letter.  If  I  contributed  any  thing  to- 
wards obtaining  your  degree,  it  was  only  by 
acquainting  some  members  of  the  university 
with  your  character :  and  if  I  have  furthered,  in 
any  measure,  by  my  sermon,  the  designs  of  the 
society,  God  be  thanked.  For  next  to  the  sup- 
port of  religion,  if  it  be  possible,  amongst  our- 
selves, our  principal  object  should  be  the  encou- 
raging it  in  our  colonies.  Every  thing  looks 
very  discouraging  here  ;  ecclesiastical  and  civil, 
domestic  and  foreign.  God  avert  from  us  the 
judgments  we  have  deserved;  or,  if  he  hath  de- 
termined our  fall,  raise  you  up  in  our  stead,  that 
his  truth  may  still  have  some  place  of  refuge ! 
We  have  been  greatly  blameable,  amongst  many 
other  things,  towards  you ;  particularly  in  giving 
you  no  Bishops.  But  I  see  no  prospect  of  the 
amendment  of  that  or  any  thing,  except  what 
arises  from  the  contemplation  of  his  overruling 
Providence,  who  brings  light  out  of  darkness. 

"  Being  taken  up,  while  in  town,  with  the 
care  of  a  parish,  which  is  too  much  for  me,  and 
having  no  interest  amongst  the  great,  I  can  at- 


74  LIFE  OF  DR.  JOHNSON. 

tend  the  society  but  little,  and  serve  them  yet 
less :  but  shall  be  glad  to  receive  whatever  you 
may  please  to  communicate  to  me  concerning 
the  state  of  religion  amongst  you ;  which  will 
always  have  my  best  wishes  and  prayers.  I 
earnestly  pray  God  to  bless  you  for  the  sake  of 
it ;  and  am,  with  much  regard,  Sir,  your  loving 
brother,  and  humble  servant, 

"  THO.  OXFORD. 
44  To  the  Rev.  Dr.  Johnson." 

About  this  time  Dr.  Johnson  entered  upon  a 
new  course  of  studies,  both  philosophical  and 
theological;  which,  as  it  depended  upon  his 
beloved  Hebrew,  was  the  more  agreeable,  and 
engaged  the  whole  of  his  time  that  could  be 
spared  from  the  duties  of  his  station.  He  had 
met  with  Lord  President  Forbes's  Thoughts  on 
Religion,  and  Letter  to  a  Bishop.  This  led  him 
to  procure  the  works  of  Mr.  John  Hutchinson, 
which  have  made  such  a  noise  in  the  learned 
world.  These  he  read  over  again  and  again; 
he  studied  them  with  the  utmost  care  and 
attention,  making  use  of  all  the  assistance  he 
could  obtain  from  the  best  critics  and  lexico- 
graphers. At  length  he  became  entirely  satis- 
fied in  his  own  mind,  with  regard  to  the  follow- 
ing particulars.  On  the  one  hand,  many  of  Mr. 
Jlutchinson's  criticisms  appeared  to  him  to 


LIFE  OF  mi.  JOHNSON.  75 

unjust,  and  many  of  his  translations  forced  and 
unnatural.  He  was  also  greatly  disgusted  at  the 
superciliousness  of  that  author,  who  treats  the 
great  names  of  Sir  Isaac  Newton  and  Dr.  Clarke 
contemptuously,  and  represents  them  as  no  better 
than  atheists,  and  apostates  from  Christianity ; 
nor  did  he  think  that  he  had  done  justice  to  th 
characters  of  Philo  and  the  Jewish  Rabbies, 
however  obnoxious  they  were  in  many  respects. 
Yet,  on  the  other  hand,  he  was  struck  with  ad- 
miration of  the  profound  and  stupendous  genius 
of  Mr.  Hutchinson,  which  appeared  to  him  to 
be  but  little,  if  at  all,  inferior  to  that  of  Sir  Isaac 
himself.  He  thought  he  had  really  weakened 
the  principles  of  the  Newtonian  philosophy, 
showing  its  inconsistency  in  several  points  ;  and 
that  he  had  proved  that  the  only  right  system  of 
philosophy  is  taught  in  the  Bible.  With  regard 
to  divinity,  it  appeared  to  him.  1.  That  there 
was  the  highest  probability  that  Mr.  Hutchin- 
son had  discovered  some  very  important  ancient 
truths,  that  had  been  in  a  manner  lost,  particu- 
larly with  respect  to  the  divine  names,  the  che- 
rubim, £c.  2.  That  he  had  most  effectually 
confuted  the  Jews,  Infidels,  Arians,  and  Here- 
tics of  other  denominations.  3.  That  by  ex- 
plaining the  sacred  language  and  hieroglyphics 
he  had  made  it  evident  that  the  whole  method 

§ 


76  LIFE  OF  DR.  JOHNSON. 

of  our  redemption  by  Christ  was  much  more 
clearly  revealed  to  our  first  parents,  and  much 
better  understood  in  the  patriarchal  and  Mosaic 
ages,  than  has  been  commonly  imagined.  4.  That, 
as  he  had  best  shown  the  origin  of  philosophy 
and  religion,  so  he  had  given  the  best  account 
of  the  rise  of  idolatry  that  is  any  where  extant. 
In  a  word,  notwithstanding  the  obscurity  of  his 
language,  his  proneness  to  run  into  extremes, 
and  his  other  literary  deficiencies,  yet,  in  Dr. 
Johnson's  opinion,  no  man,  in  these  latter  ages, 
has  ever  appeared  to  have  studied  so  labo- 
riously, and  to  have  understood  so  thoroughly, 
the  Hebrew  language  and  antiquities  as  Mr. 
Hutchinson*.  In  this  opinion  he  was  after- 

*  The  reader  will  find  an  explanation  and  defence  of  seven 
of  the  philosophical  and  theological  principles  of  Hutchii 
in  the  works  of  the  Rev.  William  Jones,  of  Nayland ;  and  ah 
in  two  small  tracts  written  by  Bishop  Home,  while  Fellow  of 
Magdalen  College,  Oxford,  entitled,  An  Apology  for  certain 
Gentlemen  in  the  University  of  Oxford ;  and  A  fair,  candid  and 
impartial  State  of  the  Case  between  Sir  Isaac  Newton  and  Mr. 
Hutchinson ;  in  which  is  shown  how  far  a  System  of  Physics  u 
capable  of  Mathematical  Demonstration — how  far  Sir  Isaac's, 
such  a  System,  has  that  Demonstration — and,  consequently,  what 
regard  Mr.  Hutchinson's  Claim  may  deserve  to  have  paid  to  it. 
The  following  account  of  the  principles  of  the  Hutchinsonians 
is  extracted  from  the  preface  to  the  second  edition  of  Jones's  lii 
of  Bishop  Home,  and  it  is  thought  will  prove  acceptable  to  tl 
reader.  Ed. 


LIFE  OF  DR.  JOHNSON.  77 

wards  more  strongly  confirmed,  by  reading  again 
Stillingfleet's  Origims  Sacra,  Gale's  Court  of  the 

"  1.  In  the  first  place  the  followers  of  Mr.  Hutchinson  give 
to  God  the  pre-eminence  in  every  thing.  His  authority  with 
them  is  above  all  authority :  His  wisdom  above  all  wisdom : 
His  truth  above  all  truth.  They  judge  every  thing  to  be  good 
or  bad,  wise  or  foolish,  as  it  promotes  or  hinders  the  belief  of 
Christianity.  On  which  account,  their  first  enemies  are  to  be 
found  among  sceptics,  infidels  and  atheists.  Their  next  ene- 
mies are  those  who  are  afraid  of  believing  too  much :  such  as 
our  Socinians  and  their  confederates,  who  admit  Christianity  as 
a  fact,  but  deny  it  as  a  doctrine. 

"  2.  They  hold,  that  only  one  way  of  salvation  has  been 
revealed  to  man  from  the  beginning  of  the  world;  viz.  the 
way  of  faith  in  God,  redemption  by  Jesus  Christ,  and  a  de- 
tachment from  the  world:  and  that  this  way  is  revealed  in 
both  Testaments. 

"  3.  That  in  both  Testaments  divine  things  are  explained  and 
confirmed  to  the  understandings  of  men,  by  allusions  to  the 
natural  creation.  I  say  confirmed  ;  because  the  Scripture  is 
so  constant  and  uniform  in  the  use  it  makes  of  natural  objects, 
that  such  an  analogy  appears  between  the  sensible  and  spiritual 
world,  as  carries  with  it  sensible  evidence  to  the  truth  of  revela- 
tion ;  and  they  think  that,  where  this  evidence  is  once  appre- 
hended by  the  mind,  no  other  will  be  wanted.  They  are, 
therefore,  persuaded,  it  may  have  great  effect  toward  making 
men  Christians,  in  this  last  age  of  the  world ;  now  the  original 
evidence  of  miracles  is  remote,  and  almost  forgotten. 

"  4.  They  are  confirmed  Trinitarians.  They  became  such 
at  their  baptism  in  common  with  other  Christians  :  and  they 
are  kept  such  by  their  principles  ;  especially  by  what  is  called 
the  Hutchinsonian  philosophy  of  fire,  light,  and  air.  Nature 


78  LIFE  OF  DR.  JOHNSON. 

Gentiles,  Cudworth's  Intellectual  System,  and 
other  books  of  the  like  nature, 

shows  us  these  three  agents  in  the  world,  on  which  all  natural 
life  and  motion  depend  ;  and  these  three  are  used  in  the  Scrip- 
ture to  signify  to  us  the  three  supreme  powers  of  the  Godhead, 
in  the  administration  of  the  spiritual  world ;  notwithstanding 
the  judgment  which  our  new  biographer  hath  passed  against 
them.  Let  any  philosopher  show  us  one  single  effect,  of  which 
it  may  be  proved,  that  neither  fire,  light,  nor  air  contribute  to 
it  in  any  of  their  various  forms. 

"  5.  On  the  authority  of  the  Scriptures,  they  entertain  so  low 
an  opinion  of  human  nature,  under  the  consequences  of  the 
fall,  that  they  derive  every  thing  in  religion  from  revelation  or 
tradition.  A  system  may  be  fabricated,  and  called  natural ; 
but  a  religion  it  cannot  be ;  for  there  never  was  a*  religion, 
among  Jews  or  Gentiles,  Greeks,  Romans,  or  Barbarians,  since 
the  beginning  of  the  world,  without  sacrifice  and  priesthood : 
of  which  natural  religion,  having  neither,  is  consequently  no 
religion.  The  imagination  of  man,  by  supposing  a  religion 
without  these,  has  done  infinite  disservice  to  the  only  religion 
by  which  man  can  be  saved.  It  has  produced  the  deistical 
substitution  of  naked  morality,  or  Turkish  honesty,  for  the 
doctrines  of  intercession,  redemption,  and  divine  grace.  It  has 
no  gift  from  God,  but  that  nature,  which  came  poor,  and  blind, 
and  naked  out  of  Paradise;  subject  only  to  further  misery, 
from  its  own  lusts  and  the  temptations  of  the  devil.  A 
ligion,  more  flattering  to  the  pride  of  man,  pleases  his  fancy 
better  than  this  ;  but  it  will  never  do  him  any  good. 

"  Hutchinson  himself  had  a  strong  sense  of  this,  that  he 
looked  upon  natural  religion  as  deism  in  disguise ;  an  engine 
of  the  devil,  in  these  latter  days,  for  the  overthrow  of  the 
Gospel;  and  therefore  boldly  called  it  the  religion  of  Satan  or 


LIFE  OF  nn.  JOHNSON.  7'J 

Dr.  Johnson  had  two  sons,  William  Samuel, 
born  October  7,  1727,  and  William,  born  March 

Antichrist.  Let  the  well-informed  Christian  look  about  him 
and  consider,  whether  his  words,  extravagant  as  they  might 
seem  at  first,  have  not  been  fully  verified.  I  myself,  for  one, 
am  so  thoroughly  persuaded  of  this,  that  I  determine  never  to 
give  quarter  to  natural  religion,  when  it  falls  in  my  way  to 
speak  of  the  all-sufficiency  of  the  Gospel  of  Jesus  Christ.  We 
know  very  well  how  the  Scripture  is  brought  in  to  give  its 
countenance  to  the  notion  of  a  natural  religion  :  but  we  know 
also  that  dark  texts  are  drawn  to  such  a  sense,  as  to  render 
all  the  rest  of  the  Scripture  of  no  effect ;  as  hath  happened  in 
the  doctrines  of  predestination  and  natural  religion  ;  by  the  J 
former  of  which  we  lose  the  Church,  by  the  latter  its  Faith. 
Facts  bring  a  dispute  to  a  short  issue.  If  Voltaire  were  alive, 
I  would  be  judged  by  him,  whether  Christianity  hath  not 
been  going  down  ever  since  natural  religion  came  up.  And 
we  know,  by  what  his  disciples,  the  French,  have  done,  that 
natural  religion  comes  up,  when  Christianity  is  put  down. 
These  facts  teach  us,  that  they  will  not  stand  long  together. 
Whether  they  possibly  might  or  not  is  not  worth  an  inquiry ; 
because  he  that  has  got  Christianity  may  leave  natural  religion 
to  shift  for  itself. 

"  6.  Few  writers  for  natural  religion  have  shown  any  regard 
to  the  types  and  figures  of  the  Scripture,  or  known  much  about 
them.  But  the  Hutchinsonians,  with  the  old  Christian  Fathers, 
and  the  divines  of  the  reformation,  are  very  attentive  to  them, 
and  take  great  delight  in  them,  They  differ  in  their  nature 
from  all  the  learning  of  the  world  :  and  so  mnch  of  the  wisdom 
of  revelation  is  contained  in  them,  that  no  Christian  should 
neglect  the  knowledge  of  them.  All  infidels  abominate  them. 
Lord  Bolingbroke  calls  St.  Paul  a  cabalist  for  arguing  from 


80  LIFE  OF  DR.  JOHNSON. 

9,  1731.  As  they  grew  up,  he  found  it  ne- 
cessary to  take  the  instruction  of  them  upon 

them  ;  but  the  Hutchinsonians  are  ambitious  of  being  such 
cabalists  as  St.  Paul  was. 

"  7.  In  natural  philosophy  they  have  great  regard  to  the 
name  of  Newton,  as  the  most  wonderful  genius  of  his  kind. 
But  they  are  sure  his  method  of  proving  a  vacuum  is  not  agree- 
able to  nature.  A  vacuum  cannot  be  deduced  from  the  theory 
of  resistances :  for,  if  motion  be  from  impulsion,  as  Newton 
himself,  and  some  of  the  wisest  of  his  followers,  have  sus- 
pected; then  the  cause  of  motion  will  never  resist  the  motion 
which  it  causes.  The  rule,  which  is  true  when  applied  to  com- 
municated motion,  does  not  hold  when  applied  to  the  motions 
of  nature.  For  the  motions  of  nature  change  from  less  to 
more ;  as  when  a  spark  turns  to  a  conflagration :  but  commu- 
nicated motion  always  changes  from  more  to  less :  so  that  there 
is  an  essential  difference  between  them,  and  we  cannot  argue 
from  the  one  to  the  other.  Mr.  Cotes's  demonstration,  it  is  well 
known,  is  applicable  only  to  communicated  motion :  I  mean 
only  such  as  is  violent  or  artificial.  There  is  no  need  of  a 
vacuum  in  the  heavens  :  it  is  more  reasonable  and  more  agree- 
able to  nature  that  they  should  be  filled  with  a  circulating 
fluid,  which  does  not  hinder  motion,  but  begins  it  and  pre- 
serves it. 

"  They  cannot  allow  inert  matter  to  be  capable  (as  mind  is) 
of  active  qualities ;  but  ascribe  attraction,  repulsion,  &c.  to 
subtle  causes,  not  immaterial.  There  may  be  cases  very  in- 
tricate and  difficult ;  but  they  take  the  rule  from  plain  cases, 
and  supposing  nature  to  be  uniform  and  consistent,  they  apply 
it  to  the  rest. 

"  8.  In  natural  history,  they  maintain,  against  all  the  wild 
theories  of  infidels,  which  come  up,  one  after  another,  like 


LIFE  OF  DR.  JOHNSON.  81 

himself.  He  entered  them  into  Latin  when  six 
years  old,  and  sent  them  to  Yale  College  when 

mushrooms,  and  soon  turn  rotten,  that  the  present  condition  of 
the  earth  bears  evident  marks  of  an  universal  flood  ;  and  that 
extraneous  fossils  are  to  be  accounted  for  from  the  same  ca- 
tastrophe. Many  of  them  are  therefore  diligent  collectors  of 
fossil  bodies,  which  arc  valuable  to  the  curious  in  considera- 
tion of  their  origin. 

"  9.  What  commonly  passes  under  the  name  of  learning,  is 
a  knowledge  of  Heathen  books ;  but  it  should  alwayi  be  ad- 
mitted with  great  precaution.  For  they  think  of  all  Heathens, 
that,  from  the  time  when  they  commenced  Heathens,  they 
never  worshipped  the  true  God,  the  Maker  of  heaven  and 
earth  ;  but,  instead  of  him,  the  elements  of  the  world,  the 
powers  of  nature,  and  the  lights  of  heaven :  that  the  love  of 
vice  and  vanity  was  the  real  cause  of  their  ignorance  :  they  did 
not  know  the  true  God,  because  they  did  not  like  to  know  him : 
and  that  the  same  passions  will  give  us  an  inclination  to  the 
principles  of  Heathens,  rather  than  to  the  principles  of  Chris- 
tians ;  and  that  most  of  the  ill  principles  of  this  age  come  out 
of  the  Heathen  school.  The  favourers  of  Mr.  Hutchinson's 
scheme  are,  therefore,  reputed  to  be  the  enemies  of  learning. 
But  they  are  not  so.  They  are  enemies  only  to  the  abuses  of 
it,  and  to  the  corruptions  derived  from  it.  To  all  false  learn- 
ing, that  is  to  human  folly,  affecting  to  be  wisdom,  they  have 
indeed  a  mortal  aversion  in  their  hearts,  and  can  hardly  be 
civil  to  it  in  their  words  ;  as  knowing  that  the  more  a  man  has 
of  false  wisdom,  the  less  room  there  will  be  for  the  true.  Me- 
taphysics, which  consist  of  words  without  ideas  ;  illustrations 
of  Christian  subjects  from  Heathen  parellels  ;  theories  founded 
only  on  imagination  ;  speculations  on  the  mind  of  man,  which 
yield  no  solid  matter  to  it,  but  lead  it  into  dangerous  opinions 

G 


82 


LIFE   OF  DR.  JOHNSON. 


they  were  about  thirteen  ;  by  which  time  they 
had  read  many  more  of  the  Latin  and  Creel 

about  itself :  these,  and  other  things  of  the  kind,  with  whi< 
modern  learning  abounds,  they  regard  as  they  would  the  paint- 
ing of  a  ghost,  or  the  splitting  of  an  atom*. 

"  1 0.  Of  Jews,  they  think  that  they  are  the  inveterate 
mies  of  Christianity;  never  to  be  trusted  as  our  associates 
either  in  Hebrew  or  divinity.  No  Philo,  no  Josephus,  no  Tal- 
mudist,  is  to  be  depended  upon ;  but  suspected  and  sifted, 
dangerous  apostates  from  true  Judaism.  It  is  plausibly  argut 
that  Jews,  as  native  Hebrews,  must,  like  other  natives,  be 
acquainted  with  their  own  language.  But  the  case  of  the  Jews 
is  without  a  parallel  upon  earth.  They  are  out  of  their  native 
state  ;  and  have  an  interest  |in  deceiving  Christians  by  every 
possible  means,  and  depriving  them  of  the  evidence  of  the  Old 
Testament. 

"11.  They  are  of  opinion,  that  the  Hebrew  is  the  primaeval 
and  original  language ;  that  its  structure  shows  it  to  be  divine ; 
and  that  a  comparison  with  other  languages  shows  its  priority. 

"  12.  The  Cherubim  of  the  Scriptures  were  mystical  figures, 
of  high  antiquity  and  great  signification.  Those  of  Eden,  and 
of  the  tabernacle,  and  of  Ezekiel's  vision  all  belong  to  the 
same  original.  Irenaeus  has  enough  upon  them  to  justify  the 
Hutchinsonian  acceptation  of  them.  The  place  they  had  in 
the  Holy  of  Holies,  and  their  use  in  the  Sacred  Ritual  sets 
them  very  high.  Their  appellation,  as  Cherubim  of  glory\ , 
does  the  same;  and  the  reasoning  of  St.  Paul,  from  the 
shadows  of  the  law  to  the  priesthood  of  Christ,  sets  them  high- 
est of  all;  obliging  us  to  infer,  that  they  were  symbolical  of 

<'  «  S* «  mon-  on  this  sul>jc»l,  p.  101.  of  the  life. 
"  t  Compun:  Ads.  vii.     'O  0»of 


LIFE  OF  DR.  JOHNSON.  83 

classics,  than  had  been  read  by  any  boys  in  the 
country.  The  elder  commencd  A.B.  in  1744, 

the  divine  Presence.  The  naoapa  £wa  in  the  Revelation  of 
St.  John  (improperly  called  beasts,  for  one  of  them  was  a  man, 
and  another  a  bird)  must  be  taken  for  the  same  ;  where  the 
figures  of  the  old  law  bow  down  and  surrender  all  power 
and  glory  to  the  evangelical  figure  of  the  Lamb  that  was  slain. 
Here  the  doctrine  is  thought  to  labour  a  little ;  but  if  the  fra 
are  considered  only  as  figures,  the  case  alters.  And,  if  this 
great  subject  should  have  parts  and  circumstances  not  to  be 
understood,  we  must  argue  from  what  is  understood.  They 
seem  to  have  been  known  in  the  Christian  Church  of  the  first 
centuries ;  but  not  with  the  help  of  the  Jews.  So  also  was  the 
analogy  of  the  three  agents  (0we,  nvp,  irvwua,)  these  being 
expressly  mentioned  by  Epiphanius,  as  similitudes  of  the 
Divine  Trinity. 

"  In  their  physiological  capacity,  so  far  as  we  can  find,  the 
Cherubim  seem  never  to  have  been  considered  before  Mr. 
Hutchinson ;  who  very  properly  derives  from  them  all  animal- 
worship  among  the  heathens.  This  subject  is  of  great  extent 
and  depth  ;  comprehending  a  mass  of  Mythological  learning, 
well  worthy  of  a  diligent  examination. 

"  These  things  come  down  to  us  under  the  name  of  John 
Hutchinson ;  a  character  sui  generis,  such  as  the  common 
forms  of  education  could  have  never  produced  :  and  it  seems 
to  me  not  to  have  been  well  explained,  how  and  by  what 
means  he  fell  upon  things,  seemingly  so  new  and  uncommon  : 
but  we  do  not  enquire  whose  they  are,  but  what  they  are,  and 
what  they  are  good  for.  If  the  tide  had  brought  them  to 
shore  in  a  trunk,  marked  with  the  initals  J.  H.  while  I  was 
walking  by  the  sea-side,  I  would  have  taken  them  up,  and 
kept  them  for  use  ;  without  being  solicitous  to  know  what  ship 
G  2 


84  LIFE  OF  DH.   JOHNSON. 

and  A.M.  in  1747.  He  fixed  upon  the  law  for 
his  profession,  in  which  he  soon  became  emi- 

they  came  out  of,  or  how  far,  and  how  long,  they  had  been 
floating  at  the  mercy  of  the  wind  and  waves.  If  they  should 
get  from  my  hands  into  better  hands,  I  should  rejoice ;  being 
persuaded  they  would  revive  in  others  the  dying  flame  of 
Christian  faith,  as  they  did  in  Bishop  Home  and  myself.  And 
why  should  any  good  men  be  afraid  of  them  ?  There  is  no- 
thing here  that  tends  to  make  men  troublesome,  as  heretics, 
fanatics,  sectaries,  rebels,  or  corrupters  of  any  kind  of  useful 
learning.  All  these  things  a  man  may  believe,  and  still  be  a 
good  subject,  a  devout  Christian,  and  a  sound  member  of  the 
Church  of  England :  perhaps  more  sound,  and  more  useful, 
than  he  would  have  been  without  them.  For  myself  I  may  say, 
(as  I  do  in  great  humility)  that  by  following  them  through 
the  course  of  a  long  life,  I  have  found  myself  much  enlightened, 
much  assisted  in  evidence  and  argument,  and  never  corrupted ; 
as  I  hope  my  writings,  if  they  should  last,  will  long  bear  me 
witness.  If  these  principles  should  come  into  use  with  other 
people,  I  am  confident  they  would  turn  Christians  into 
Scholars,  and  Scholars  into  Christians  ;  enabling  them  to  de- 
monstrate, how  shallow  infidels  are  in  their  learning,  and  how 
greatly  every  man  is  a  loser  by  his  ignorance  of  Revelation." 

The  Editor  cannot  refrain  from  presenting  to  the  reader 
the  following  testimony  to  the  eminent  talents  and  worth  of 
the  Rev.  W.  Jones,  the  writer  of  the  above  extract.  This 
testimony  comes  from  an  English  prelate,  whose  laborious 
writings  in  mathematical  and  physical  science,  as  well  as 
in  theology  and  sacred  criticism,  have  ranked  him  among  the 
most  profound  scholars  and  divines  that  his  country  has  pro- 
duced— Dr.  Samuel  Horsley,  successively  Archdeacon  of  St. 


LIFE  OF  DR.  JOHNSON.  85 

nent.  He  was  chosen  one  of  the  assistants  (or 
of  his  Majesty's  council)  in  Connecticut,  1766, 
by  which  time  the  University  of  Oxford  had  con- 
ferred upon  him  the  degree  of  Doctor  of  Laws ; 
and  before  the  end  of  the  year,  the  colony  ap- 

Alban's,  Bishop  of  St.  David's,  of  Rochester,  and  of  St.  Asaph 
— Progrediatur  !  In  his  charge  to  the  Clergy  of  the  diocese 
of  Rochester,  in  the  year  1800,  Bishop  Horsley  thus 
speaks : 

"  When  by  assiduity  in  your  public  and  private  ministry  ; 
by  the  purity  of  your  lives,  and  the  soundness  of  your  doc- 
trines, you  have  gained  the  good-will  and  esteem  of  your 
parishioners,  they  will  be  ready  to  give  you  their  atten- 
tion upon  a  subject,  upon  which  the  people  of  this  country 
in  general  much  want  good  teaching.  I  mean  the  nature  of 
the  Church,  the  necessity  of  Church  communion,  and  the 
danger  of  schism.  Upon  these  points  I  know  nothing  so  well 
calculated  for  general  edification  as  a  tract,  entitled,  An 
Essay  on  the  Church,  by  the  late  Rev.  William  Jones,  some 
time  of  Pluckley,  in  this  county,  but  last  of  Nayland  in  Suffolk. 
It  has  lately  been  republished,  in  a  small  size,  and  at  a 
cheap  rate,  by  the  Society' for  promoting  Christian  Knowledge, 
of  which  the  author  had  been  many  years  a  most  useful 
member.  Of  that  faithful  servant  of , God  I  can  speak  both 
from  personal  knowledge  and  from  his  writings.  He  was 
a  man  of  quick  penetration,  of  extensive  learning,  and  the 
soundest  piety ;  and  he  had,  beyond  any  other  man  I  ever 
knew,  the  talent  of  writing  upon  the  deepest  subjects  to  the 
plainest  understandings.  He  is  gone  to  rest,  and  his  works, 
we  trust,  follow  him.  His  Catholic  Doctrine  of  the  Trinity, 
and  this  Essay  on  the  Church,  cannot  have  too  wide  a  cir- 
culation." Bishop  of  Rochester 's  Charge,  second  edition,  p.  37. 


86  LIFE  OF  DR.  JOHNSON. 

pointed  him  their  Agent  Extraordinary.  In  the 
execution  of  this  high  trust,  he  embarked  for 
England,  December  24,  1766,  where  he  resided 
till  towards  the  middle  of  the  year  1771*.  The 
doctor's  younger  son  commenced  A.B.  in  1748, 
and  A.M.  in  1751.  His  inclination  led  him  to 
the  study  of  divinity,  and  devote  himself  to 
the  service  of  the  church.  Of  him  more  will 
be  said  hereafter. 

The  Doctor  had  composed  a  compendium  of 
logic,  including  metaphysics,  and  another  of 
ethics,  for  the  better  instruction  of  his  two  sons 
in  those  studies.  Those  were  printed  together 
in  an  octavo  volume  in  1752,  by  Mr.  Franklin, 
in  Philadelphia,  for  the  use  of  the  college  in  that 
city  then  about  to  be  erected,  and  of  which, 
Mr.  Franklin,  so  justly  celebrated  throughout 
the  learned  world  for  his  discoveries  and  im- 
provements in  electricity,  was  one  of  the  most 
active  promoters.  On  that  occasion  he  fre- 
quently corresponded  with  Dr.  Johnson,  whom 
he  esteemed  one  of  the  best  judges  of  such 
matters  in  the  country.  He  consulted  him  about 

*  This  gentleman  has  continued  to  enjoy,  in  an  eminent 
degree,  the  affection  and  confidence  of  his  countrymen.  He 
has  filled  several  high  civil  stations,  and,  last  of  all,  the  office 
of  President  of  the  college  in  New  York,  from  which  a  few 
years  since  he  retired  to  Stratford,  where  he  still  resides.  Ed. 


LIFE  OF  DU.  JOHNSON.  87 

the  plan  of  education  for  the  college,  and  urged 
him  to  undertake  the  presidency  of  it ;  which 
proposal,  although  it  was  in  many  respects 
agreeable  to  the  doctor,  he  finally  declined. 
The  college  was  soon  after  established,  and 
placed  under  the  direction  of  Mr.  Smith,  who 
had  been  educated  in  one  of  the  universities  of 
Scotland,  and  came  over  in  the  character  of  a 
private  tutor  to  a  gentleman's  family  and  whose 
shining  abilities,  of  which  the  public  had  already 
received  abundant  proof,  sufficiently  recom- 
mended him  as  a  person  well  qualified  for  this 
important  station.  This  gentleman  went  to 
Europe  and  took  holy  orders  in  1753 ;  and  in 
1759  he  again  went  to  Europe,  when  the  degree 
of  Doctor  in  Divinity  was  conferred  upon  him 
by  the  University  of  Oxford*. 

Animated  by  the  example  of  the  Philadel- 
phians,  a  number  of  gentlemen  in  New  York 
undertook  to  found  a  college  also  in  that  city, 
where  it  was  equally  necessary.  Most  of  these 
gentlemen  were  members  of  the  Church  of 
England,  but  some  of  them  belonged  to  the 
Dutch  Church,  and  some  were  Presbyterians. 
Mr.  De  Lancey,  the  lieutenant-governor,  and 

*  The  Rev.  Dr.  William  Smith,  justly  celebrated  as  an 
eloquent  writer  and  preacher,  died  in  the  year  1802.  His 
works  in  several  volumes,  have  been  published,  Ed. 


88  LIFE  OF  DR.  JOHNSON. 

then  Commander  in  Chief,  was  at  the  head  of 
this  association.  In  the  beginning  of  the  year 
1753,  an  act  of  Assembly  was  obtained,  appoint- 
ing Mr.  De  Lancey  and  other  gentlemen  of  th< 
different  religious  denominations,  Trustees  for 
carrying  the  design  into  execution.  The  same 
act  made  some  provision  for  a  fund,  by  a  suc- 
cession of  lotteries.  In  conducting  this  scheme, 
Dr.  Johnson  was  all  along  consulted ;  anc 
through  him,  application  was  made  to  Bishop 
Berkeley  for  his  advice  and  direction,  which 
he  was  pleased  very  freely  to  give,  in  a  letter  to 
the  doctor. 

In  1754,  the  Trustees  unanimously  chose  Dr. 
Johnson,  President  of  their  intended  college,  and 
requested  him  to  remove  to  New  York  as  soon 
as  possible,  that  he  might  be  able  to  give  more 
effectual  assistance  in  bringing  it  forward.  But 
he  complied  with  reluctance.  He  was  happy  in 
his  people  at  Stratford,  had  been  always  fond  of 
a  country  life,  and  was  in  easy  circumstances ; 
all  which  were  strong  inducements  for  not  ac- 
cepting the  offer.  But  his  principal  reasons 
against  it  were,  his  fear  of  the  small-pox,  to 
which  he  must  often  be  exposed  in  the  city ; 
but  more  especially  the  consideration  of  his 
advanced  state  of  life,  being  now  turned  of 
fifty-seven.  These  things  he  represented  to  his 


LIFE  OF  DR.  JOHNSON.  89 

chief  friends  in  New  York,  and  the  principal 
managers  of  the  college ;  but  they  declared,  that 
if  he  declined  they  would  relinquish  the  institu- 
tion. It  was  his  advice,  that  they  should  pro- 
cure some  proper  person  for  the  station  from  one 
of  the  universites  in  Great  Britain ;  but  they 
did  not  think  fit  to  follow  his  advice.  Finding 
this  to  be  the  case,  he  at  length  consented 
to  go  to  New  York  about  the  middle  of  April 
following,  by  way  of  trial ;  but  he  would  not 
absolutely  accept  of  the  post  till  the  charter 
should  be  passed,  and  he  could  see  what  kind  of 
college  it  was  likely  to  prove.  Accordingly  he 
left  Stratford,  as  he  had  promised,  on  the  15th 
of  April  1754,  but  did  not  remove  his  family  till 
after  the  charter  was  passed. 

His  parting  with  his  people  was  very  affec- 
tionate, and  one  of  the  most  difficult  tasks  he 
had  ever  undertaken.  He  had  lived  happily 
with  them  for  upwards  of  thirty  years,  and  no- 
thing could  have  reconciled  his  mind  and  con- 
science to  leaving  them,  but  strong  hopes  of 
becoming  more  extensively  useful  to  his  fellow- 
creatures,  in  an  affair  of  so  much  importance  as 
education  undoubtedly  is,  especially  in  a  place 
where  a  public  seminary  of  learning  was  so 
greatly  wanted. 

But  before  the  time  last  mentioned,  a  violent 


90  LIFE  OF  DR.  JOHNSON. 

opposition  was  made  to  the  design.  The  planoi 
the  Trustees  was  extensive  and  generous,  aim- 
ing at  the  general  good  of  all  denominations  of 
people  in  the  province.  However,  as  a  majority 
of  that  board,  as  well  as  of  the  gentlemen  in 
the  city  who  had  the  cause  of  a  college  at  heart, 
were  of  the  Church  of  England,  they  proposed, 
and  thought  it  expedient  on  many  accounts,  that 
the  Church  should  have  the  preference  so  far  as 
that  the  president  should  always  be  a  person  in 
the  communion  of  the  Church  of  England,  and 
that  the  college  prayers  to  be  used  every  morn- 
ing and  evening  should  be  a  collection  from 
the  Liturgy.  To  this  the  Dutch  gentlemen 
readily  consented.  But  it  was  furiously  opposed 
by  others,  who  filled  the  whole  province  with 
their  clamour,  and  exerted  their  utmost  influence, 
both  publicly  and  privately,  to  persuade  the  As- 
sembly not  to  grant  the  college  the  money  raised 
by  lotteries,  to  the  amount  of  several  thousand 
pounds.  They  contended  that  no  sort  of  pre- 
ference ought  to  be  given  to  any  one  denomina- 
tion of  Christians,  for  they  knew  it  could  not 
be  obtained  for  themselves ;  and  went  so  far  as 
to  draw  up,  and  publish,  and  present  to  the  As- 
sembly, the  form  of  a  charter  fitted  to  their  own 
purposes.  However,  the  Assembly  thought  pro- 
per to  put  aside  their  draft,  and,  after  a  little 


LIFE  OF  Dll.  JOHNSON.  !)1 

while,  no  more  was  heard  of  it.  The  party  still 
opposed  the  granting  of  the  money,  and  many 
papers  were  written  on  both  sides.  To  put  an 
end  to  the  controversy,  which  had  a  bad  effect 
upon  the  tempers  of  the  people,  Mr.  De  Lancey 
passed  the  charter,  October  31,  1754,  incorpo- 
rating several  persons  ex  officio,  and  twenty-four 
principal  gentlemen  of  the  city,  including  some 
of  the  clergy  of  different  denominations,  and 
their  successors,  by  the  name  and  title  of  the 
Governors  of  the  College  of  the  Province  of  New 
York,  in  the  City  of  New  York,  in  America. 
Dr.  Johnson  was  appointed  in  the  charter  the 
first  president,  and  the  president  thereafter  was 
always  to  be  a  member  in  the  communion  of  the 
Church  of  England,  and  the  prayers  to  be  a  col- 
lection out  of  the  Liturgy,  with  a  particular  col- 
lect for  the  college.  Dr.  Johnson  then  accepted 
of  the  appointment ;  yet  on  this  condition,  that 
he  should  be  at  liberty  to  retire  to  some  place 
of  safety  in  the  country,  whenever  the  small-pox 
should  render  it  dangerous  for  him  to  reside  in 
the  city. 

In  the  month  of  June  he  published  an  adver- 
tisement in  the  gazette,  giving  a  short  account 
of  the  design  of  the  college,  of  the  plan  of  edu- 
cation, and  of  the  qualifications  requisite  for  ad- 
mission ;  and  he  appointed  a  day  for  the  exami- 


92  LIFE  OF  DR.  JOHNSON. 

nation  of  candidates.  On  the  day  appointed  ten 
young  gentlemen,  including  two  from  other  col- 
leges, were  admitted,  and  formed  the  first  class. 
The  Doctor  took  this  class  under  his  own  imme- 
diate care,  and  began  to  instruct  them,  July  17, 
in  the  large  vestry-room  belonging  to  the  corpo- 
ration of  Trinity  Church. 

About  this  time  he  wrote  to  Dr.  Sherlock, 
Bishop  of  London,  with  whom  he  had  been  ho- 
noured with  a  correspondence,  and  to  the  So- 
ciety for  the  Propagation  of  the  Gospel;  in- 
forming them  of  the  design  of  the  college,  of  his 
own  appointment  to  the  superintendency  of  it, 
and  of  the  opposition  it  met  with ;  and  request- 
ing for  it  his  lordship's  and  the  society's  patron- 
age. The  Bishop,  in  his  answer,  expressed  an 
entire  approbation  both  of  the  college  and  of  the 
choice  that  had  been  made  of  the  president 
and  he  encouraged  the  Doctor  to  go  on,  with 
patience  and  resolution,  in  so  good  a  work.  The 
society's  answer  was  to  the  same  effect.  Both 
his  lordship  and  the  society  promised  to  patro- 
nize the  college ;  and  the  good  effects  of  this 
seasonable  and  well-judged  recommendation, 
seconded  by  an  address  to  the  society  from  the 
vestry  of  Trinity  Church,  afterwards  appeared 
in  such  acts  of  kindness  and  generosity  as  shoulc 
never  be  forgotten 


LIFE  OF  DR.  JOHXSOX.  93 

The  Doctor  took  this  occasion  affectionately 
to  recommend  to  the  society  his  late  congrega- 
tion at  Stratford,  now  left  destitute  of  a  minister, 
expressing  great  anxiety  and  concern  on  their 
account.  The  society  engaged  to  provide  for 
them  in  the  best  manner  they  could ;  and,  not 
long  after,  they  sent  Mr.  Winslow,  their  mis- 
sionary, to  Stratford,  who  was  deservedly  es- 
teemed by  the  church  at  that  place. 

As  soon  as  the  college  was  established  by 
charter,  Dr.  Johnson  proceeded  vigorously  in 
bringing  things  into  method  and  order.  He 
drew  up  the  form  for  the  daily  prayers,  which 
he  extracted  from  the  Liturgy,  and  composed 
the  collect  for  the  college,  and  got  them  printed 
with  the  Psalter ;  he  compiled  a  small  body  of 
laws  for  present  use,  to  be  further  improved  as 
there  should  be  occasion ;  and  he  made  a  device 
for  the  seal  of  the  corporation.  All  these  things 
were  approved  and  established  by  the  gover- 
nors. At  the  same  time  the  plan  for  the  build- 
ing was  agreed  upon,  and  the  workmen  soon  got 
into  motion. 

By  the  admission  of  a  second  class,  an  assist- 
ant tutor  was  rendered  necessary;  and  as  Mr. 
Whittelsey,  for  whom  that  place  was  originally 
intended,  if  he  could  be  persuaded  to  accept  of 
it,  thought  proper  to  refuse  it,  it  was  given  to 
Mr.  William  Johnson,  the  president's  younger 


94  LIFE  OF  DR.  JOHNSON. 

son;  a  young  gentlemen  of  fine  genius  and  ami- 
able disposition,  and  an  excellent  classical  scho- 
lar. And  now  large  subscriptions  and  dona- 
tions were  made  and  collected,  and  all  things 
were  carried  on  with  order  and  spirit. 

But  the  disaffected  party  continued  to  oppose 
the  design  with  their  usual  virulence  and  cla- 
mour. It  was  their  immediate  aim  to  proselyte 
a  majority  of  the  House  of  Assembly  to  their 
party,  in  order  to  prevent  a  grant  of  the  money 
raised  by  lotteries.  And  when  it  was  under- 
stood that  Sir  Charles  Hardy  was  coming  over 
as  governor  of  the  province,  with  regard  to 
whose  principles  and  character  they  happened 
to  be  mistaken,  they  prepared  an  inflammatory 
address,  in  one  of  the  numbers  of  the  Watch 
Tower*,  on  the  subject  of  the  college,  hoping  to 
engage  his  interest  in  opposition  to  it ;  and  on 
his  arrival  they  presented  it.  But  Sir  Charles 
received  it  with  coldness,  and  treated  it  as  it 
deserved.  On  the  other  hand,  he  received  the 
address  of  the  governors  of  the  college,  pre- 
sented by  the  president,  with  the  greatest  re- 
spect and  politeness.  He  signified  that  he  was 
desirous  of  seeing  their  subscription  paper  ;  and 
the  next  day,  when  it  was  brought  to  him,  he 
generously  subscribed,  without  any  solicitations, 

*  See  Watch  Tower,  No.  XLII. 


LIFE   OF   DR.   JOHNSON.  '.)-> 

five  hundred  pounds  for  the  college.  This  was 
such  a  disappointment  and  mortification  to  its 
opposers,  that  from  that  time  they  were  silent, 
and  gave  no  further  molestation.  Not  long  after 
the  board  of  governors,  who  had  an  equitable 
and  just  right  to  the  whole  of  the  money  raised 
by  lottery,  for  the  sake  of  peace,  agreed  with 
the  assembly  that  it  should  be  equally  divided 
between  the  college  and  the  public. 

The  time  was  now  come  when  the  president 
and  his  son,  who,  for  above  a  year,  had  acquitted 
himself  to  universal  acceptance,  as  tutor  in  the 
college,  were  to  be  parted  from  each  other, 
never  to  meet  again  in  the  present  world.  Mr. 
Johnson  embarked  for  England,  November  8, 
1755,  with  a  view  of  returning,  in  holy  orders, 
to  assist  and  succeed  Mr.  Standard,  the  super- 
annuated missionary  at  Westchester.  He  was 
received  by  the  society,  by  the  bishops  Sherlock 
and  Seeker,  and  all  the  Doctor's  friends,  with 
the  greatest  affection.  They  recommended  him 
to  the  University  of  Oxford  for  the  degree  of 
Master  of  Arts;  which  was  readily  conferred 
upon  him,  in  the  month  of  May ;  and  soon  after, 
to  the  University  of  Cambridge,  where  he  was 
admitted  ad  cundem.  He  had  received  holy 
orders  in  March,  and  had  preached  several 
times,  in  and  about  London,  with  great  reputa- 


96  LIFE  OF  DR.   JOHNSON. 

tion.  But  soon  after  his  return  from  Cambridge 
he  was  seized  with  the  small-pox,  which  proved 
fatal  to  him  on  the  20th  of  June,  1756.  He  was 
buried  in  Mr.  Morley's  vault,  in  St.  Mildred's, 
in  the  Poultry;  where  there  is  a  handsome 
marble  monument  erected  to  his  memory.  Thus, 
to  the  inexpressible  grief  and  disappointment  of 
his  friends,  and  to  the  great  loss  of  the  Church 
in  America,  was  this  amiable  and  promising 
youth  cut  off,  in  the  bloom  of  life ;  making  the 
seventh  of  those  who,  in  their  voyage  to  Eng- 
land for  holy  orders,  from  the  northern  colonies, 
had  perished  by  sundry  kinds  of  death ! 

In  the  mean  time  the  governors  of  the  college 
appointed  to  succeed  him  as  tutor,  Mr.  Cutting 
who  had  been  educated  in  Eton  and  the  Univer- 
sity of  Cambridge,  and  was  extremely  well 
qualified  for  the  station;  and  all  things  were 
going  on  prosperously  at  the  college.  Materials 
were  collected  with  dispatch  for  the  building; 
it  having  been  agreed  to  place  it  in  the  skirts  of 
the  city,  on  a  commodious  lot  of  ground  which 
was  given  by  the  vestry  of  Trinity  Church. 
And  on  the  23d  of  August  the  first  stone,  with 
a  proper  inscription,  was  laid  by  Sir  Charles 
Hardy ;  on  which  occasion  the  president  made 
a  short,  elegant  Latin  speech  to  the  governors, 
to  Sir  Charles,  and  Mr.  De  Lanceythe  lieutenant- 


LIFE  OF  DR.  JOHNSON.  97 

governor,  congratulating  them  on  this  happy 
event,  which  had  succeeded  almost  beyond  ex- 
pectation, and 

"  Per  varies  casus,  et  tot  discrimina  rerum." 

But  the  president's  joy  was  soon  interrupted : 
for,  on  the  12th  of  September  the  news  arrived 
of  the  death  of  his  beloved  son.  The  shock 
was  indeed  terrible;  but  God  enabled  him  to 
bear  it  much  better  than  he  could  have  ex- 
pected. He  received  many  affectionate  letters 
of  condolence  from  his  friends  in  England  on 
this  melancholy  event.  Archbishop  Seeker,  in 
particular,  expressed  himself  on  the  mournful 
occasion  with  much  tenderness. 

It  was  no  small  addition  to  the  president's 
affliction,  that  he  was  soon  after  (in  the  month 
of  November)  obliged  to  leave  the  city  on  ac- 
count of  the  small-pox.  He  retired  with  his 
family  to  Westchester,  hoping  to  be  useful 
there,  in  ministering  to  the  people  who  were 
deprived  of  the  most  flattering  expectations,  by 
the  death  of  his  son.  Here  the  Doctor  was 
obliged  to  continue  upwards  of  a  year.  He  left 
about  thirty  pupils  in  the  three  classes ;  and  as 
Mr.  Cutting  was  unable  to  take  proper  care  of 
them  all,  the  governors  provided  another  tutor, 
whom  they  made  at  the  same  time  Professor  of 

H 


98  LIFE  OF  DR.  JOHNSON". 

Mathematics  and  Natural  Philosophy.  This 
was  Mr.  Tread  well,  a  young  gentleman  of  a  very 
excellent  character,  educated  at  Harvard  Col- 
lege, and  recommended  by  Professor  Winthrop 
as  eminently  qualified  for  that  station.  Soon 
after  this,  an  apparatus  of  good  mathematical 
and  philosophical  instruments  was  purchased; 
"  and  the  Rev.  Dr.  Bristowe,  a  worthy  member 
of  the  society,  lately  deceased,  having  by  his 
last  will  bequeathed  his  library,  of  near  one 
thousand  five  hundred  volumes,  to  the  society, 
to  be  sent  to  the  college  of  New  York,  of  which 
Dr.  Johnson  is  president,  or  to  such  other  plac< 
or  places  as  the  society  shall  direct,,  the  societ; 
directed  those  books  to  be  sent  and  placed  in 
this  college  of  New  York,  in  approbation  of  the 
generous  donor's  design*/' 

The  college,  being  thus  provided  for,  went  o) 
successfully,  notwithstanding  the  president's 
absence.  He  returned  to  New  York  in  March, 
1758;  and  soon  after  met  with  another  heavy 
affliction,  in  the  death  of  Mrs.  Johnson,  with 
whom  he  had  lived  happily  above  thirty-two 
years.  She  died  on  the  1st  of  June,  and  was 
interred  in  the  chancel  of  Trinity  Church. 

On  the  21st  of  the  same  month  he  held  his 

.  *  Seethe  Abstract  annexed  to  the  Bishop  of  Ely's  sermon. 


LIFE  OF  DR.  JOHNSON.  99 

first  commencement,  when  his  first  class, 
amounting  to  ten  in  number,  including  two  from 
the  college  of  New  Jersey,  commenced  Bache- 
lors of  Arts ;  the  degree  of  Master  of  Arts  was 
conferred  upon  others,  who  had  spent  some 
time  in  the  college,  and  were  thought  qualified 
for  it;  and  several  who  had  taken  that  degree 
in  other  colleges,  were  admitted  ad  eundem. 
The  whole  number  of  graduates  amounted  to 
upwards  of  twenty,  and  made  a  very  respect- 
able appearance. 

The  year  following  went  on  smoothly  and 
agreeably.  The  different  branches  of  instruc- 
tion were  properly  divided  between  the  presi- 
dent and  tutors;  the  former  confining  himself  to 
Greek,  logic,  metaphysics,  and  ethics.  At  the 
same  time  the  building  was  carried  on  with 
vigour. 

In  1759  was  a  small  private  commencement; 
and  in  October  the  Doctor  was  again  forced  to 
retire,  by  reason  of  the  small-pox.  He  spent 
the  winter  with  his  son  in  Stratford ;  but  under 
great  anxiety  of  mind  on  account  of  the  college : 
for  he  left  Mr.  Treadwell,  the  mathematical  pro- 
fessor, in  a  declining  state  of  health,  which  soon 
turned  into  a  consumption,  and  put  a  period  to 
his  life  early  in  the  spring. 

About  the  same  time,  viz.  in  April  1760,  the 
H  2 


100  LIFE  OF  DR.  JOHNSON'. 

college  met  with   another  heavy  loss,   in  the 
death  of  Benjamin  Nicoll,  Esq.     This  gentle- 
man was  the  Doctor's  son-in-law,  as  has  been 
formerly   mentioned :  he  practised   the  law  i 
New  York,  and  his  abilities  and  integrity  ha 
justly  caused  him  to  be  considered  as  at  the 
head  of  his  profession  in  that  city.     He  was  a 
governor  of  the  college,  and  one  of  the  most 
able,  active,  and  spirited  members  of  that  body 
He  was  to  the  president  more  than  a  son-in-law 
having  always  treated  him  with  all  the  respec. 
and  affection  that  are  due  to  a  real  and  mos 
deserving  parent.     The  whole  city  was  in  tears 
at  his  sudden  and  untimely  death,  at  the  age  of 
forty-two ;  the  friends  of  the  college  seemed  to  be 
under  a  consternation ;  but  the  blow  was  still 
more  severe  to  Dr.  Johnson  himself.     He  was 
now  almost  ready  to  despond ;  and  when  he  r 
turned  to  New  York  in  May  following,  he  foun 
the  scene  so  changed,  that  the  city  appeared  to 
him  like  a  kind  of  wilderness. 

In  the  preceding  winter  the  Doctor,  conside 
ing  his  own  advanced  age,  which  must  soon 
render  him  unable  to  undergo  the  fatigue  that 
necessarily  attended  his  station,  and  much 
fected  at  his  being  so  often  obliged  to  leave  th 
college  for  fear  of  the  small-pox,  began  to  thin 
in  earnest  of  resigning  his  office,  and  of  spend 


LIFE  OF  DR.  JOHNSON.  101 

ing  the  remainder  of  his  days  with  his  dear  and 
only  son  at  Stratford.  He  therefore  thought  it 
expedient,  having  obtained  the  consent  of  the 
governors,  to  write  to  his  great  patron,  the 
Archbishop,  who  was  by  the  charter  placed  at 
the  head  of  the  governors,  requesting  him  to 
provide,  as  soon  as  possible,  two  gentlemen 
from  the  Universities,  to  come  over  and  assist 
in  the  management  of  the  college.  He  desired 
that  one  of  them  might  be  a  good  mathematical 
scholar,  and  that  the  other  might  be  a  proper 
person  to  succeed  him  as  president,  in  a  few 
years  at  farthest. 

On  his  return  to  New  York  he  endeavoured 
to  keep  up  his  spirits  as  well  as  he  could,  by 
an  indefatigable  application  to  business,  hoping 
te  retrieve,  in  some  measure,  the  damages  the 
college  had  sustained  during  his  absence.  The 
building  was  so  far  completed,  that  he  removed 
into  it,  and  commenced  house-keeping,  a  little 
above  forty  years  after  he  had  first  done  the 
same  in  the  college  at  New  Haven.  And  now 
he  was  to  hold  his  third  commencement,  which 
was  the  first  from  the  college.  On  this  occa- 
sion he  addressed  the  governors  in  a  short  Latin 
speech,  congratulating  them  on  their  first  meet- 
ing together  in  the  college-hall ;  and  from  thence 
the  procession  went  to  St.  George's  Chapel,  in 


102  LIFE  OF  DR.  JOHNSON* 

which  the  academical  exercises  were  performed, 
and  the  degrees  were  given.  After  the  vaca- 
tion the  classes  came  together  in  their  proper 
places ;  and  the  president  and  Mr.  Cutting,  for 
want  of  the  assistance  that  had  been  applied  for, 
were  obliged  to  do  double  duty  throughout  the 
year. 

In  May  1761,  the  Doctor  held  his  fourth 
commencement,  when  his  first  Bachelors,  with 
some  others,  took  their  Master's  degree.  It 
was  about  this  time  that  he  published  a  valuable 
little  tract,  entitled,  A  Demonstration  of  the  Rea- 
sonableness, Usefulness,  and  great  Duty  of  Prayer ; 
which  he  was  earnestly  desired  to  write,  in 
answer  to  a  paper  that  was  handed  about,  at- 
tempting to  prove  that  prayer,  as  it  consists  of 
petitions  to  the  Almighty,  is  but  an  useless 
ceremony.  As  a  sequel  to  this,  he  soon  after 
published  a  Sermon  on  the  Beauty  of  Holiness  in 
the  Worship  of  the  Church  of  England,  being  a 
brief  Rationale  of  the  Liturgy.  Thus,  under  his 
heaviest  misfortunes,  this  faithful  steward  did 
not  forget  the  obligations  he  was  under  to  im- 
prove his  talents  for  the  promotion  of  religion ; 
and  during  a  course  of  the  closest  attention  to 
the  business  of  the  college,  he  could  find  some 
time  to  employ  more  immediately  in  that  ser- 
vice. 


LIFE  OF  DR.  JOHNSON.  103 

After  this  commencement  the  Doctor  went  to 
Stratford ;  and  on  the  18th  of  June  he  married 
Mrs.  Beach,  the  widow  of  of  his  old  friend  and 
parishioner  Mr.  William  Beach,  before-men- 
tioned ;  to  whose  daughter,  Mr.  Johnson,  his 
son,  had  been  married  many  years.  She  was  a 
lady  with  whom  the  Doctor  had  been  intimately 
acquainted,  and  whom  he  had  greatly  esteemed, 
for  more  than  twenty  years ;  and  he  was  ex- 
tremely haapy  with  her,  after  his  marriage,  so 
long  as  it  pleased  God  to  continue  her. 

At  the  end  of  the  vacation  he  returned  to 
New  York ;  and  soon  after  the  governors  of 
the  college  had  an  opportunity  of  providing  a 
mathematical  professor,  the  Archbishop  having 
not  been  able  to  procure  one.  This  was  Mr. 
Robert  Harper,  a  gentleman  educated  at  the 
university  of  Glasgow.  With  this  assistance  the 
president  went  on  much  more  easily  and  agree- 
ably than  he  had  been  able  to  do  in  the  preced- 
ing year,  and  the  several  classes  were  better 
instructed.  He  held  his  fifth  and  last  com- 
mencement in  May  1762. 

Besides  the  sums  raised  by  subscription,  and 
the  dividend  of  the  lottery  money,  the  college 
had  at  this  time  received  a  benefaction  of  five 
hundred  pounds  sterling  from  the  Society  for 
the  Propagation  of  the  Gospel,  and  an  estate  of 


104  LIFE   OF  DR.  JOHNSON. 

about  ten  thousand  pounds  currency,  bequeathed 
to  it  by  Mr.  Murray.  But  after  erecting  the 
building,  and  other  necessary  expences,  its 
funds  were  low,  and  the  governors  were  obliged 
to  expend  annually  part  of  their  capital.  The 
president  had  often  proposed  to  solicit  for  a 
collection  in  England,  to  augment  the  fund  ;  but 
it  had  been  neglected.  Hower,  James  Jay, 
M.D.  who  was  about  embarking  for  England, 
offering  his  service  to  promote  there  a  collec- 
tion for  the  college,  the  governors  were  per- 
suaded by  the  president  to  accept  the  offer, 
and  Dr.  Jay  was  duly  authorised  to  proceed, 
Mr.  Alderman  Trecothick,  of  London,  and  others, 
being  joined  with  him  in  the  commission.  He 
was  accordingly  furnished  with  proper  addresses 
from  the  governors,  in  behalf  of  the  college,  to  the 
king,  the  archbishops,  the  two  universities,  an< 
the  Society  for  the  Propagation  of  the  Gospel. 
When  he  arrived  in  England,  he  found  that  Dr. 
Smith,  the  provost  of  the  college  in  Philadelphia, 
was  there  before  him,  engaged  in  the  like  d< 
sign  in  favour  of  his  college.  The  archbishop 
who  had  most  heartily  espoused  the  cause  of 
King's  College,  and  was  a  great  friend  to 
other,  imagining  that  separate  collections  at  tin 
same  time  would  injure  each  other,  thought 
would  be  best  to  join  them  together,  and  to 


LIFE  OF  DR.  JOHNSON.  105 

apply  to  the  king  for  a  brief  to  go  through  the 
kingdom  in  favour  of  both  of  them.  This  mea- 
sure was  therefore  adopted,  and  it  was  agreed 
to  divide  the  profits  of  the  collection  equally 
between  the  two  colleges.  The  king  who  had 
most  graciously  received  the  address  from 
the  governors  of  the  college  in  New  York,  and 
had  conferred  the  honor  of  knighthood  on  Dr. 
Jay,  who  was  charged  with  the  address,  had 
given  four  hundred  pounds  for  the  use  of  that 
seminary  ;  which  royal  donation  was  an  appro- 
priated benefaction,  and  therefore  was  a  ne- 
cessary exception  from  the  general  collection. 
His  Majesty  was  also  pleased  to  give  two  hun- 
dred pounds  for  the  college  at  Philadelphia, 
referring  it  to  Mr.  Penn  as  its  proper  patron. 
This  joint  collection  produced  to  King's  College 
near  six  thousand  pounds  sterling,  clear  of  ex- 
penses. 

After  waiting  two  years,  a  gentleman  of 
Queen's  College,  Oxford,  was  recommended  to 
the  archbishop  as  a  proper  person  to  assist  Dr. 
Johnson  in  the  management  of  the  college,  and 
who  was  willing  to  come  over  for  that  purpose, 
on  condition  of  succeeding  him  as  president 
after  two  or  three  years.  This  was  the  Rev. 
Mr.  Myles  Cooper,  of  whom  the  archbishop 
greatly  approved,  recommending  him  as  a  per- 


106 


LIFE  OF  DR.  JOHNSON. 


son  well  qualified  in  all  respects,  excepting  that 
he  was  but  about  twenty-five  years  of  age.   Mr. 
Cooper  arrived  in  the  autumn  of  1762,  and  was 
extremely  acceptable  to  the  president,  and  w; 
treated  by  him  with  the  affection  of  a  father. 
He  was  immediately  appointed  Professor    of 
Moral  Philosophy  ;  and  in  a  short  time,  by  his 
good  conduct,  he  gave  a  more  effectual  recom- 
mendation of  himself  to  the  governors  than  he 
could  possibly  bring  from  other  persons.     The 
president  had  no  thoughts  of  resigning  imme- 
diately.    His  intention  was  to  continue  in  the 
office  at  least  till  after  the  next  commencement 
in  May ;  but  the  unexpected  and  sudden  death 
of  Mrs.  Johnson  determined  him  to  relinquish 
his  situation  at  an  earlier  period. 

Mrs.  Johnson  discovered  during  the  course 
of  her  disorder,  which  was  the  small-pox,  an 
exemplary  patience,  faith,  and  resignation,  and 
expired  on  the  9th  of  February  1763.  After 
this  Dr.  Johnson  continued  about  a  fortnight  in 
the  neighbourhood  of  New  York,  receiving  the 
visits  and  condolence  of  his  friends  ;  he  then 
sent  his  resignation  to  the  governors  of  the 
college,  and  went  to  Stratford  there  to  finish 
the  remainder  of  his  days. 

The  account  of  Dr.  Johnson,  for  several  yeai 
past,  has  been  little  else  than   the  history  of 


LIFE  OF  DR.  JOHNSON.  107 

the  college  in  New  York.  His  relation  to  it  as 
president  now  ceased ;  but  his  affection  for  it 
continued  with  unabating  vigour,  and  his  en- 
deavours to  promote  its  welfare  and  reputation 
were  constantly  exerted  on  all  proper  occasions, 
accompanied  with  his  best  wishes  and  prayers, 
to  the  end  of  his  life.  It  may,  therefore,  be 
proper  to  mention  some  of  the  more  remarkable 
events  relating  to  King's  College  after  this  pe- 
riod. 

Dr.  Johnson's  resignation  was  in  February, 
1763;  and  previously  to  the  commencement  in 
May  following  Mr.  Cooper  was  chosen  presi- 
dent. He  extremely  wanted  the  assistance  of 
another  tutor  or  professor,  and  had  engaged  one 
of  his  friends  in  the  University  of  Oxford  to 
come  over,  in  whom  he  would  have  been  happy. 
But  this  gentleman  died  just  as  he  was  ready  to 
embark  for  America.  At  length  Dr.  Clossy,  a 
gentleman  from  Dublin,  who  had  been  educated 
in  Trinity  College,  had  taken  the  degree  of 
Doctor  of  Physic,  and  was  a  Fellow  of  the  Irish 
College  of  Physicians,  came  to  New  York.  As 
he  was  soon  discovered  to  be  a  good  scholar, 
and  fond  of  a  college  life,  the  governors  ap- 
pointed him  their  Professor  of  Natural  Philoso- 
phy, with  such  a  salary  and  perquisites  as  he 
was  willing  to  accept ;  upon  which  he  removed 


108  LIFE  OF  DR.   JOHNSON1. 

into  the  college,  and  entered  upon  duty.  A 
grammar  school,  under  the  government  of  the 
college,  was  soon  after  established,  and  Mr. 
Gushing  a  gentleman  from  Boston,  was  sent 
for,  and  employed  to  take  care  of  it. 

The  several  classes  were  now  taught  by  Mr. 
Cooper,  Mr.  Harper,  and  Dr.  Glossy;  and 
under  such  able  instructors  they  had  peculiar 
advantages,  such  as  but  few  seminaries  of  so 
young  a  standing,  especially  in  America,  have 
ever  been  able  to  boast  of.  The  improvements 
of  the  students  in  general  were,  in  some  go< 
measure,  answerable  to  these  advantages.  Th< 
college,  from  year  to  year,  produced  a  numbei 
of  young  gentlemen,  as  candidates  for  its  pre- 
ferments, that  would  do  honour  to  any  academi- 
cal institution.  In  1766  Dr.  Johnson  made  his 
last  visit  to  New  York,  at  the  time  of  the  com- 
mencement ;  and  he  had  the  unspeakable  satis- 
faction of  finding  the  college  in  a  flourishinj 
state,  and  of  seeing  the  public  exercises  per- 
formed in  a  manner  that  far  exceeded  his  ex- 
pectations. 

In  his  peaceful  retreat  at  Stratford,  Dr.  John- 
son was  once  more  happily  situated,  in  the  en- 
joyment of  ease  and  leisure,  surrounded  by  his 
old  friends,  most  agreeably  accommodated  and 
provided  for  in  his  son's  house,  and  accom- 


LIFE  OF  DR.  JOHXSOK.  109 

panied  by  his  little  grand  children ;  whose  blan- 
dishments and  caresses,  in  some  measure,  com- 
pensated for  the  late  losses  he  had  met  with  in 
his  family. 

The  year  before  the  Doctor's  return  to  Strat- 
ford, Mr.  Winslow  had  requested  from  the 
society  a  removal  from  this  mission,  on  account 
of  the  peculiar  circumstances  of  his  family  ;  and 
the  mission  of  Braintree,  in  the  neighbourhood 
of  his  friends  in  Boston,  being  offered  him,  he 
thought  proper  to  accept  it.  This  was  some 
time  after  Dr.  Johnson  had  fixed  his  residence 
with  his  son.  On  this  occasion,  the  Doctor,  inti- 
mating to  the  Society  his  inclination  to  resume 
the  charge  of  his  old  mission,  as  he  had  been 
used  to  a  life  of  action,  and  was  desirous  of 
finishing  the  remainder  of  his  days  in  the  imme- 
diate service  of  religion,  the  Society  very  gladly 
replaced  him  in  it ;  and  he  was  again  kindly  re- 
ceived by  the  people  at  Stratford,  in  the  charac- 
ter of  their  minister,  in  1764,  upwards  of  forty 
years  after  he  had  first  entered  into  this  relation 
to  them. 

He  now  applied  himself  diligently  to  the 
duties  of  his  mission,  and  thought  and  felt  him- 
self as  able  to  discharge  them,  at  nearly  the  age 
of  seventy,  as  he  had  been  twenty  or  thirty 
years  before.  Indeed,  he  had  always  been  re- 


110  LIFE  OF  DR.  JOHNSOX. 

markably  healthy,  having  never  suffered  more 
than  two  slight  fits  of  illness,  and  two  or  three 
turns  of  the  fever  and  ague  :  but  now  the  fine 
air  of  Stratford  seemed  to  inspire  him  with 
more  vigorous  health  than  he  had  enjoyed  for 
many  years  before.  He  was,  however,  subject 
to  a  soreness  in  his  legs,  which  sometimes  con- 
fined him  to  his  room.  This  he  looked  upon  as 
partly  the  consequence  of  a  broken  leg  which 
he  received  in  1747,  and  as  aggravated  by  his 
sedentary  life,  occasioned  by  the  intenseness  of 
his  studies :  and  he  often  considered  it  as  next 
to  a  miracle,  that  he  had  so  much  health  with  so 
little  exercise. 

About  this  time  his  thoughts  were  much  en- 
gaged on  the  subject  of  an  American  Episco- 
pate. The  Rev.  Mr.  Apthorp,  missionary  at 
Cambridge,  near  Boston,  had  published  a  small 
pamphlet  in  vindication  of  the  conduct  of  the 
Society  in  establishing  missions  in  New  England, 
This  publication  was  occasioned  by  some  scur- 
rilous reflections  on  that  venerable  body,  that 
were  propagated  through  the  country  in  the 
common  newspapers.  In  answer  to  Mr.  Apthorp, 
Dr.  Mayhew,  a  man  of  distinguished  abilities  and 
assurance,  came  forward  in  a  huge  pamphlet  of 
176  pages,  treating  Mr.  Apthorp  contemptu- 
ously, reflecting  grossly  on  the  Church  of  Eng- 

t 


LIFE  OF  DR.  JOHNSON.  Ill 

land  in  general,  charging  the  Society  more  par- 
ticularly with  flagrant  injustice  in  misapplying 
their  money  for  the  support  of  missionaries  in 
New  England,  and  raising  an  hideous  outcry 
against  the  scheme  of  sending  bishops  to  Ame- 
rica. This  called  forth  from  Dr.  Johnson  a  short 
vindication  of  the  Society,  a  paralytic  tremour  in 
the  hand  preventing  him  from  writing  largely. 
It  was  printed  by  way  of  appendix  to  a  much 
fuller  vindication,  which  has  generally  been 
ascribed  to  the  Rev.  Dr.  Caner.  At  the  same 
time  was  published  in  England,  a  candid  and 
masterly  reply  to  Dr.  Mayhew,  which  is  known 
to  have  been  the  work  of  Archbishop  Seeker, 
and  is  worthy  of  his  admirable  pen.  To  both 
these  pamphlets  Dr.  Mayhew  rejoined.  On 
this  occasion  he  showed  his  abilities  and  address 
as  a  disputant,  availing  himself  in  the  best 
manner  of  every  little  accidental  advantage, 
and  pushing  his  antagonists  with  vigour  on  every 
turn.  He  seems  to  have  established  some  of  his 
particular  facts,  but  to  have  fallen  much  short 
of  supporting  his  general  charge ;  and  he  was 
brought  by  his  opponents  to  make  some  impor- 
tant concessions,  particularly  with  regard  to  an 
American  Episcopate.  He  had  also  been  at- 
tacked in  another  pamphlet,  entitled,  Remarks  on 
Dr.  May  hew' s  incidental  Reflections  relative  to  the 


112  LIFE  OF  DR.  JOHNSON. 

Church  of  England,  which  was  printed  at  Ports- 
mouth, in  New  Hampshire ;  and  handled  with 
much  roughness  by  a  gentleman  of  the  colony 
of  Rhode  Island :  but  to  these  pieces  he  had  not 
time  to  reply.  In  1765  Mr.  Apthorp  published 
a  very  polite  and  candid  Review  of  Dr.  Mayhews 
Remarks,  fyc.  This  was  the  last  piece  that  ap- 
peared in  the  controversy;  and  it  was  Dr. 
Johnson's  opinion  that  the  Church,  on  the  whole, 
had  gained  ground  by  it,  as  indeed  it  had  always 
done  in  similar  cases. 

What  occasioned,  at  this  time,  so  much  viru- 
lence against  the  scheme  for  an  American  Epis- 
copate, was  an  apprehension  that  the  peace 
being  settled,  the  time  drew  near  in  which  that 
subject  would  naturally  command  the  attention 
of  government;  and  it  was  well  known  that 
some  endeavours  were  using  to  hasten  so  im- 
portant an  event.  The  archbishop  had,  for 
many  years,  been  determined  to  take  the  first 
favourable  opportunity  of  urging  it  forward. 
On  his  first  translation  to  the  see  of  Canterbury, 
he  wrote  a  long  letter  to  Dr.  Johnson,  proposing 
a  great  number  of  questions  to  him,  and  desiring 
his  answer,  that  he  might  thereby  be  informed 
of  the  whole  state  of  the  Church  in  America, 
and  be  enabled  the  better  to  serve  it.  He  now 
endeavoured  to  promote  the  appointment  of 


LIFK   OF    DR.   JOHNSON*.  113 

American  bishops,  seconded  by  the  abilities  of 
the  Archbishop  of  York,  the  Bishop  of  London, 
and  others ;  and  made  considerable  progress  in 
gaining  the  attention  of  the  ministry.  But  they 
were  as  yet  too  much  employed  in  settling  the 
civil  affairs  of  the  colonies  to  give  the  case  of  the 
Church  a  proper  examination.  The  confusions 
that  soon  after  followed,  in  consequence  of  the 
stamp  act,  naturally  caused  this  case  to  be  post- 
poned. An  address  on  this  subject,  from  Dr. 
Johnson  and  the  clergy  of  Connecticut,  to  Bi- 
shop Terrick,  on  his  advancement  to  the  see 
of  London,  introduced  a  correspondence  with 
which  his  lordship  was  pleased  to  honour  him. 

As  the  archbishop's  answer  to  Dr.  Mayhew's 
Observations,  and  Mr.  Apthorp's  Review,  in  which 
the  true  design  of  establishing  bishops  in  Ame- 
rica was  explained,  had  not  been  generally  cir- 
culated through  the  colonies,  and  as  it  appeared 
that  many  of  the  Americans  were  still  unac- 
quainted with  the  scheme,  and  therefore  dis- 
affected towards  it.  Dr.  Johnson  thought  it 
highly  expedient  that  a  pamphlet  should  be 
written  professedly  on  the  subject,  for  the  in- 
formation of  all  parties,  showing  that  the  epis- 
copate proposed  was  of  such  a  nature  as  not  to 
interfere  with  the  civil  or  religious  rights  of 
people  of  any  rank  or  denomination  whatever, 


114  LIFE  OF  DR.  JOHNSOX. 


and  representing  the   grounds   on   which   this 
claim  of  the  Church  was  founded.     The  Doctor 
himself  would  have  been  the  proper  person  to 
execute  his  own  proposal ;    but  he  would  not 
attempt  it,  as  he  was  unable  to  guide  his  pen 
without  extreme  difficulty.      He  therefore  de- 
sired one  of  his  friends,  with  whom  he  had  ex- 
changed many  letters  on   the  subject,  and  of 
whose  qualifications  for  the  service  he  had  too 
favourable  an  opinion,  to  open  the  case  of  the 
Church  of  England  in  the  colonies,  to  explain 
the    great    disadvantages   and  hardships   it  is 
under  for  want  of  enjoying  its  own  institutions 
and  to  show  that  the  enjoyment  of  them  in  the 
manner  proposed,  would  afford  no  just  cause  of 
jealousy  or  uneasiness  to  people  of  other  persua- 
sions.     In  compliance  with  this  request,   and 
with  the  appointment  of  the  clergy  of  Ne 
York  and   New  Jersy,  met  in  convention,  the 
business  was  at  length  undertaken,  and  an  Ap- 
peal to  the  Public ,  in  behalf  of  the  Church  of  Eng- 
land in  America,  was  published  in  1767*.     O 
this  I  shall  say  no  more  than  that  although  i 
seemed  to  be  satisfactory  to  all  parties  at  first, 

*  The  Appeal,  the  Appeal  defended,  and  the  Appeal  further 
defended,  were  all  written  by  Dr.  Chandler,  the  writer  of  this 
memoir.  These  tracts  contain  much  useful  information  on  the 
general  subject  of  episcopacy.  Ed, 


LIFE  OF  DR.   JOHNSON.  1  15 

yet  afterwards  it  was  repeatedly  attacked  in 
pamphlets  and  periodical  papers,  and  as  often 
defended.  In  the  course  of  the  contest  every 
argument  that  had  been  offered  by  the  author 
of  the  Appeal,  in  favour  of  the  episcopate,  was, 
in  the  opinion  of  those  who  are  well-wishers  to 
the  Church,  effectually  supported,  and  every 
material  objection  against  it  clearly  refuted. 

A  considerable  part  of  Dr.  Johnson's  time,  in 
his  agreeable  retreat  at  Stratford,  was  taken  up 
in  corresponding  with  his  distant  friends ;  but 
much  of  it,  however,  was  employed  in  review- 
ing his  former  studies  in  almost  all  the  branches 
of  learning.  He  re-examined,  with  particular 
care,  the  several  conclusions  he  had  made  in  all 
the  former  stages  of  his  life;  and  read  over 
again,  with  much  pleasure,  the  best  books  with 
which  he  had  been  acquainted  thirty,  forty, 
and  even  fifty  years  before  ;  especially,  several 
of  the  most  valuable  tracts  of  the  fathers  and 
the  ancient  philosophers,  not  neglecting  the 
best  productions  of  the  moderns,  who  had  made 
the  study  of  nature  subservient  to  religion. 

About  this  time  Dr.  Home  (then  president  of 
Magdalen  College,  Oxford  *)  presented  him  with 
a  copy  of  Jones's t  Principles  of  Natural  Philo- 

*  Afterwards  Bishop  of  Norwich.     Ed. 
t  Rev.  William  Jones,  Minister  of  Nayland.     Ed. 
i  2 


116  LIFE  OF   Dtt.  JOHNSON. 

sophy ;  in  which  lie  endeavours  to  prove,  by 
many  experiments,  and  by  passages  from  the 
ancients,  the  truth  of  Mr.  Hutchinson's  Scrip- 
ture Philosophy.  With  this  book,  and  with 
Spearman's  Inquiry  after  Philosophy  and  Theo- 
logy, he  was  greatly  delighted.  "It  is  remark- 
able," says  Dr.  Johnson,  "  that  Bishop  Berkeley, 
in  Ireland ;  Mr.  Hutchinson,  in  England ;  and 
the  Abbe  Pluche,  in  France ;  the  greatest  men 
of  the  age,  without  any  communication  with 
each  other,  should,  at  the  same  time,  though  by 
different  media,  come  into  the  same  conclusion, 
viz.  that  the  Holy  Scriptures  teach  the  only  true 
system  of  natural  philosophy,  as  well  as  the 
only  true  religion;  and  that  Dr.  Franklin,  in 
America,  should,  at  the  same  time,  without  any 
design,  by  his  electrical  experiments,  greatly 
confirm  it."  How  far  this  curious  observation 
may  be  justly  founded,  is  submitted  to  the  judg- 
ment of  the  learned  reader. 

Dr.  Johnson  being  anxious  that  the  introduc- 
tory parts  of  the  education  of  his  little  grand- 
sons, William  and  Charles,  might  be  made  as 
easy  to  them  as  possible,  spent  some  time  in 
composing  a  small  English  Grammar  for  their 
use,  and  in  revising  his  Catechism,  published 
many  years  before  ;  and  that,  at  the  same  time, 
he  might  be  useful  to  others,  he  published  them 


OK   DR.   JOHNSON.  117 

both  together  in  1765.  He  also  revised,  cor- 
rected, and  much  improved  his  Logic  and  Ethics, 
with  the  same  view.  But  what  he  chiefly  la- 
boured and  delighted  in,  in  this  happy  interim 
of  health  and  leisure,  was  the  study  of  the  Holy 
Scriptures  in  their  sacred  originals,  and  especi- 
ally the  Hebrew  language,  in  which  those  holy 
oracles,  from  the  beginning  to  the  time  of  our 
Saviour's  manifestation,  were  delivered.  In  sub- 
serviency to  this  study,  he  read  several  volumes 
of  Mr.  Hutchinson's  works  over  again,  with  Dr. 
Sharp's  writings  against  them,  and  the  defences 
of  them  by  Messrs.  Bate,  Spearman,  Holloway, 
Hodges,  Moody,  Catcot,  Home,  &c.  He  was 
glad  to  see  so  good  a  temper  in  most  of  his  de- 
fenders ;  yet  he  thought  there  was  rather  too 
much  of  a  tendency  towards  extremes  in  some 
things  on  both  sides.  But,  upon  the  whole,  he 
approved  of  Mr.  Hutchinson's  scheme  in  gene- 
ral, and  especially  with  regard  to  the  four 
points  heretofore  mentioned. 

Dr.  Johnson  had,  for  many  years,  entertained 
a  strong  opinion,  that,  "as  the  Hebrew  was 
the  first  language  taught  by  God  himself  to 
mankind,  and  the  mother  of  all  languages  and 
eloquence,  it  would  be  proper  to  begin  a  learned 
education  with  that  language,  which  lends  to  all 


118  LIFK  O*    DR.  JOHNSOX. 

other   languages,    and    borrows   from   none*." 
Being  therefore  desirous  of  promoting  the  study 

*  The  learned  Dr.  Chapman,  in  his  Miscellaneous  Tracts, 
has  an  elaborate  dissertation,   in  which  he  proves    that  the 
greatest  critics  and  philosophers  in  general,  have  been  of  a 
different  opinion,  with  regard  to  the  derivation  of  all  languages 
from   the   ancient  Hebrew.      He  shows,   in   particular,    that 
Buxtorf,  Bishop  Walton,  Bochart,  Gerard,  Vossius,  the  two 
Scaligers,  Duret,  Daniel  Heinsius,   Selden,    Huet,  Vitringa, 
Perizonius,  Morin,  and  Father  Calmet,  fully  believed  that  sorm 
languages  owe  their  origin    to  the   miraculous  confusion 
Babel ;  and  that  it  was  the  opinion  of  the  ablest  in  this  list 
critics,  that  the  Greek,  Latin,  Teutonic,  and  Sclavonic,  art 
matrices,  or  mother  languages,  and  have  no  affinity  with  01 
another.     In  tracing  the  rise  of  ancient  languages,  there  is  so 
little  light  to  direct  us,  and  fancy  is  so  apt  to  mislead  us,  that 
the  most  prudent  way  is  not  to  be  hasty  in  forming  opinions, 
nor  dogmatical  in  asserting  them.     There  is  great  propriety  in 
the  following  observation,  made  by  the  accurate  authors  of  the 
ancient  Universal  History.     "  Some  learned  men  have  endea- 
voured to  derive  all  languages  in  general  from  the  Hebrew, 
which  they  imagine  to  be  the  parent  of  all  others.     That  they 
should  succeed  very  well  in  finding  a  great  conformity  between 
that  and  the  other  oriental  tongues  is  no  wonder,  since  they 
are  manifestly  sprung  from  one  common  original ;  though  it 
be  difficult,  if  not  impossible,  to  distinguish  the  mother  from 
the  daughters.     That  they  have  also  given  tolerable  satisfac- 
tion in  deducing  from  the  same  tongue  several  words  not  only 
in  the  Greek  and  Latin,  but  in  some  other  European  languages, 
is  not  matter  of  such   surprise,  considering  the  great  inter- 
course several  nations  of  our  continent  had  with  the  Pliceni- 


LIFE  OF   DR.  JOHNSON.  110 

of  the  Hebrew  scriptures  in  the  colonies,  he  set 
himself  down  to  compose  a  Hebrew  Grammar, 

cians,  whose  mother  tongue  was  the  Hebrew.  But  when  these 
writers  venture  out  of  their  depth,  and  pretend  to  deduce  the 
more  remote  languages  from  the  same  fountain,  they  only  shew 
their  ignorance,  and  make  themselves  ridiculous  to  all  who 
have  but  a  moderate  skill  in  those  tongues ;  for  the  proof  of 
which  we  could  produce  a  multitude  of  examples."  Univers. 
Hist.  B.  I.  c.  ii.  sect.  5.  The  learned  Saurin,  in  his  Disserta- 
tion on  this  subject,  concludes,  "  that  the  Chaldean,  Syrian,  or 
Aramean  tongue,  was  that  which  Heber  and  his  discendants 
spake ;  that  Abraham  learned  the  language  of  Canaan,  and 
transmitted  the  same  to  his  posterity;  that  this  language  is 
the  true  Hebrew,  which  is  called  in  scripture  the  language  of 
Canaan.  But  nothing  proves  that  the  Chaldean  language, 
spoken  by  Heber's  family,  was  that  only  tongue  spoken  before 
the  building  of  the  tower  of  Babel ;  perhaps  that  only  tongue 
was  then  confounded,  and  not  continued  since  in  any  one  na- 
tion or  family."  The  Jews,  in  defending  the  antiquity  of  their 
own  language,  have  extravagantly  asserted,  that  it  was  created 
immediately  by  God ;  that  it  is  the  only  language  which  is  un- 
derstood by  the  angels  of  heaven ;  that  in  this  language  alone 
will  our  prayers  be  heard  and  accepted ;  that  after  the  resur- 
rection the  blessed  will  converse  together  in  this  language,  &c. 
&c.  These  assertions  are  more  excusable  in  the  mouth  of  a 
Jew  than  in  that  of  a  Christian :  for  it  is  a  kind  of  vanity  that 
is  natural  to  mankind,  "  to  attribute  a  great  antiquity  to  their 
own  tongue  ;  insomuch  that  an  author  in  Friesland,  viz.  Goro- 
pius  Becanus,  who  lived  under  the  Emperor  Charles  V.  thought 
he  honoured  his  country  very  much  by  deriving  the  Hebrew 
words  from  Dutch  or  Teutonick;  for  instance,  he  says  that 
Adam  comes  from  Haat-dam,  a  hater  of  heaps ;  Abel,  from 


120  LIFE  OF  DR.  JOHNSOX. 

to  go  side  by  side  with  his  English  Grammar 
above-mentioned ;  as  there  appeared  to  him  to 
be  a  great  resemblance  in  the  grammatical 
structure  of  the  two  languages.  While  he  was 
engaged  in  this  work,  and  had  proceeded  about 
half  way  through  it,  he  met  with  a  new  Hebrew 
Lexicon,  by  Mr.  Parkhurst;  in  which  that  writer 
strenuously  pleads  for  the  same  opinion  and 
practice.  This  greatly  animated  him  during  the 
rest  of  his  progress ;  and  the  work  was  com- 
pleted, and  printed  in  London,  by  Faden, 
1767.  A  second  edition  of  it,  corrected  an< 
much  amended,  was  published  in  1771,  by  th( 
same  bookseller,  with  this  title :  An  English  and 
Hebrew  Grammar,  being  the  Jirst  short  Rudiments 
of  those  two  Languages,  taught  together. 

The  Doctor  was  greatly  pleased  with  th< 
method  and  illustrations  of  Parkhurst's  Hebrt 
Lexicon,  and  with  several  other  books  that  h< 
had  not  seen  till  about  the  same  time ;  particu- 
larly with  the  Preelections  of  Dr.  Lowth,  the 
learned  and  excellent  Bishop  of  Oxford*, 
on  the  Hebrew  poetry.  This  admirable  work, 

Haat-belg,  a  hater  of  war ;  Cain,  from  Quaadt-ende,  an 
end,  &c."     See  Saurin,  ut.  sup.     This  reminds  one  of  Swift's 
humourous  attempt  to  prove,  that  the  Hebrew,  Greek,  and 
Latin  tongues  were  derived  from  the  present  English. 
*  Afterwards  Bishop  of  London. 


LIFE  OF  Dll.   JOHNSON.  121 

which  is  highly  celebrated  throughout  the 
learned  world,  does,  in  the  opinion  of  com- 
petent judges,  reflect  more  light  upon  the  va- 
rious graces,  as  well  as  the  sublimity,  of  diction 
in  the  sacred  writings  of  the  Old  Testament, 
than  any  other  work  that  has  ever  been  pub- 
lished. 

Dr.  Johnson  continued,  through  the- remain- 
der of  his  life,  to  fill  up  his  time  in  a  manner 
worthy  of  his  station  and  character.  He  pur- 
sued his  studies  with  the  same  eagerness  that 
animated  his  younger  years.  He  kept  up  his 
correspondence  with  all  his  European  friends 
that  were  still  living,  and  was  very  punctual 
and  faithful  in  answering  their  expectations  in 
this  way.  His  difficulty  in  writing  occasioned 
him  not  to  be  so  exact  with  his  friends  in 
America,  who  were  better  acquainted  with  his 
case,  and  could  more  easily  excuse  him.  Yet, 
when  any  thing  of  real  consequence  was  depend- 
ing, he  consulted  not  his  own  ease,  but  would 
write  as  fully  and  particularly  to  them  as  the 
subject  required. 

At  the  same  time  he  was  attentive  to  the 
business  of  his  mission.  He  commonly  read 
prayers  and  preached  twice  on  every  Sunday, 
and  performed  the  ordinary  parochial  duties. 
But  at  length  the  disorder  in  his  legs  increased 


122  LIFE  OF  DR.  JOHNSON. 

upon  him,  and  began  to  interrupt  him  in  the 
course  of  this  service.  Therefore,  in  December, 
1767,  he  procured  Mr.  Tyler,  then  a  candidate 
for  holy  orders,  to  assist  him,  by  reading 
prayers  and  a  sermon  to  the  congregation, 
when  he  should  be  unable  to  attend  himself. 
Soon  after,  Mr.  Kneeland,  already  in  holy 
orders,  happening  occasionally  to  preach  in 
Stratford,  the  congregation  unanimously  agreed 
in  choosing  him  an  assistant  to  Dr.  Johnson, 
and  his  successor  when  his  place  should  become 
vacant. 

The  doctor  was  impatiently  desirous  of  mak- 
ing trial,  upon  his  little  grandsons,  of  his 
scheme  for  teaching  Hebrew.  He  began  with 
the  elder  very  early,  and  he  writes  of  him,  while 
he  was  only  in  the  sixth  year  of  his  age,  that 
the  child  was  then  "making  a  rapid  progress 
in  Hebrew."  About  the  same  time,  viz.  on  the 
first  of  October  1771,  his  son,  Dr.  William 
Samuel  Johnson,  who  went  to  England  as  agent 
extraordinary  for  the  colony,  returned  after  an 
absence  of  near  five  years.  This  was  an  event 
for  which  he  had  long  wished  and  prayed ;  but 
having  been  disappointed  from  year  to  year,  he 
almost  despaired  of  ever  seeing  it.  His  measure 
of  worldly  happiness  seemed  now  to  be  filled. 
In  all  his  letters  from  this  time,  and  frequently 


LIFE  OF  1)11.   JOHNSON. 

in  his  common  conversation,  he  spoke  of  himself 
as  the  happiest  man  upon  earth,  and  shewed 
that  his  mind  was  impressed  with  the  deepest 
sense  of  his  obligations  to  Divine  Providence  on 
that  account. 

However  this  occasioned  no  remissness  in 
the  pursuit,  no  disrelish  to  the  enjoyment,  of  a 
happiness  very  different  from  what  this  world  af- 
fords. He  had  fixed  his  heart  upon,  and  never 
lost  sight  of,  the  great  end  of  religion.  "  The 
mark  for  the  prize  of  the  high  calling  of  God  in 
Christ  Jesus"  he  attentively  eyed,  pressing  to- 
wards it ;  and  he  could  plainly  preceive,  that 
he  now  lessened  its  distance  very  fast.  On  the 
morning  of  January  6,  1772,  the  most  glorious 
Epiphany  he  ever  beheld,  he  conversed  with 
his  family  on  the  subject  of  his  own  death,  with 
the  greatest  cheerfulness  and  serenity.  Among 
other  things  he  said,  "  that  although  he  seemed 
to  be  but  little  indisposed,  yet  he  found  his 
strength  failing  him ;  that  he  must  soon  leave 
them,  but  he  was  going  home" — adding  such 
exhortations  as  were  suitable  to  the  subject  of 
his  discourse.  He  expressed  his  wishes,  that  he 
"  might  resemble  in  the  manner  of  his  death  his 
good  friend  Bishop  Berkeley,  whom  he  had 
greatly  loved,  and  whose  exit  he  had  ever 
esteemed  happy."  Heaven  granted  his  wish ! 


124 


LIFE  OF   DR.   JOHNSON. 


For  very  soon  after  he  had  uttered  these  words, 
like  the  good  bishop,  he  instantaneously  expired 
in  his  chair,  without  the  least  struggle  or  groan. 
So  that  he  may  rather  be  said  to  have  been 
changed,  or  translated,  than  to  have  died  ;  for  he 
felt  none  of  the  agonies  of  death  ;  he  underwent 
no  struggle  that  was  sufficient  to  discompose  the 
pleasing  serenity  of  his  countenance. 

Two  days  after,  his  remains  were  interred  in 
the  chancel  of  Christ  Church,  Stratford ;  where 
a  handsome  monument  has  been  erected  to  his 
memory,  with  the  following  inscription,  com- 
posed by  a  friend,  who  greatly  loved  and  re- 
spected him. 

M.S. 

SAMUELIS  JOHNSON,  D.  D. 
Collegii  Regalis,  Novi  Eborati, 

Prasidis  primi, 

Et  hujus  Ecclesice  nuper  Rcctoris, 

Natus  die  14to  Octob.  1696, 

Obiit6to.  Jan.  1772. 

If  decent  dignity,  and  modest  mien, 

The  cheerful  heart,  and  countenance  serene ; 

If  pure  religion,  and  unsullied  truth, 

His  age's  solace,  and  his  search  in  youth ; 

If  piety,  in  all  the  paths  he  trod, 

Still  rising  vig'rous  to  his  Lord  and  God  , 


LIFE  OF  DR.  JOHNSON.  125 

If  charity,  through  all  the  race  he  ran, 
Still  wishing  well,  and  doing  good  to  man  ; 
If  learning,  free  from  pedantry  and  pride, — 
If  faith  and  virtue,  walking  side  by  side  ; 
If  well  to  mark  his  being's  aim  and  end, — 
To  shine,  through  life,  a  husband,  father,  friend  ; 
If  these  ambition  in  thy  soul  can  raise, 
Excite  thy  reverence,  or  demand  thy  praise  ; 
Reader — ere  yet  thou  quit  this  earthly  scene, 
Revere  his  name,  and  be  what  he  has  been. 

MYLES  COOPER. 

All  the  clergy  from  the  neighbouring  towns 
attended  his  funeral.  A  sermon  suitable  to  the 
occasion,  was  preached  by  the  Rev.  Mr.  Learning, 
as  Mr.  Beach,  to  whom  that  office  had  been 
assigned,  was  unable  to  perform  it  for  want  of 
health.  The  sermon  which  this  latter  gentle- 
man had  prepared  was,  however,  preached  at 
Stratford  shortly  after,  and  published  at  the  re- 
quest of  the  audience. 

As  to  Dr.  Johnson's  person,  he  was  rather  tall, 
and,  in  the  latter  part  of  his  life,  considerably 
corpulent.  There  was  something  in  his  coun- 
tenance that  was  pleasing  and  familiar,  and  that 
indicated  the  benevolence  of  his  heart ;  and  yet, 
at  the  same  time,  it  was  majestic  and  com- 
manded respect.  He  had  a  ruddiness  of  com- 
plexion, which  was  the  effect  of  natural  consti- 
tution, and  was  sometimes  farther  brightened 


126 


LIFE  OF  DR.  JOHNSON. 


by  a  peculiar  briskness  in  the  circulation  of  his 
spirits,  brought  on  by  the  exercise  of  the  bene- 
volent affections. 

He  was  happy  in  an  original  calmness  and 
sweetness  of  temper,  that  was  seldom  discom- 
posed, and  never  soured,  by  the  common  acci- 
dents of  life.  If  an  injury  was,  in  his  opinion, 
designedly  done  him,  he  was  much  more  prone 
to  pity  the  injurious  person  than  to  resent  the 
action.  But  indeed  he  was  seldom  injured,  ex- 
cept in  his  public  character  ;  for  those  that  knew 
him  generally  loved  and  revered  him,  and  were 
desirous  of  recommending  themselves  to  him  by 
a  course  of  obliging  and  respectful  behaviour. 
What  was  most  apt  to  excite  his  indignation, 
was  the  licentiousness  of  an  unprincipled  age, 
with  respect  both  to  religion  and  government. 
The  same  good  temper  that  rendered  him 
amiable  in  private  life,  marked  all  his  proceed- 
ings of  a  public  nature,  and  may  be  discovered, 
where  such  a  thing  is  not  often  expected,  in  his 
controversial  writings.  These  he  conducted  with 
decency  and  candour ;  and  the  greatest  personal 
provocations  could  not  kindle  him  into  that 
wrath  of  man,  which,  as  St.  James  tells  us,  and 
as  experience  may  convince  us,  worketh  not  the 
righteousness  of  God. 

Benevolence  was  always  a  shining  part  of  Dr. 


LIFE  OF  DR.  JOHNSON.  127 

Johnson's  character.  This  discovered  itself  in 
all  companies,  and  on  all  occasions.  It  was  not 
confined  to  his  friends,  or  to  people  of  one  deno- 
nination  only,  but  extended  to  the  whole  human 
race  without  exception,  and  even  to  the  brutal 
part  of  the  creation.  He  had  an  affection  for 
every  thing  that  God  has  made,  according  to  its 
nature  and  qualities ;  and  he  took  an  exquisite 
pleasure  in  communicating  or  increasing  happi- 
ness, whenever  and  wherever  he  had  an  oppor- 
tunity. Had  it  been  in  his  power,  he  would 
have  made  every  human  creature  completely 
happy ;  and  as  far  as  it  was  in  his  power,  he 
never  failed  of  doing  so  in  the  most  effectual 
manner. 

He  scarcely  ever  suffered  a  day  to  pass  with- 
out doing  to  others  some  good  offices,  relating 
to  their  temporal  or  spiritual  affairs ;  with  re- 
gard to  the  former,  either  relieving  or  assisting, 
or  advising  them  ;  and  with  regard  to  the  latter, 
instructing,  or  exhorting,  or  encouraging  them, 
as  the  cases  required.  These  benevolent  em- 
ployments were  his  chief  relaxations  from  study, 
or  from  public  business;  and  he  always  returned 
from  them  more  vigorous  than  if  he  had  in- 
dulged himself  in  any  vain  or  useless  amuse- 
ments. 

His  desire  and  study  was  to  do  all  possible 


128  LIFE  OF  DR.  JOHNSOX. 

good  to  his  fellow  creatures  in  general ;  yet, 
without  breaking  in  upon  this  plan,  some  were 
the  objects  of  his  peculiar  attention.  This  may 
justly  be  said  of  the  younger  clergy,  and  of  can- 
didates for  holy  orders,  who  were  always  sure 
to  experience  in  him  the  kindness  of  a  father. 
His  seniority,  and  his  superior  influence,  natu- 
rally placed  him  at  the  head  of  the  Episcopal 
clergy  in  Connecticut,  and  gave  him  frequent 
opportunities  of  doing  them  good  offices ;  which 
he  performed  with  as  much  pleasure  to  himself 
as  they  produced  to  others.  For  near  fifty  years 
there  was  not,  I  believe,  a  single  candidate  for 
holy  orders  in  the  colony  who  did  not  apply  to 
him  for  his  advice  and  direction,  or  who  ven- 
tured to  go  to  Europe  without  his  recommenda- 
tion, or  who  did  not  owe  his  success,  in  a  great 
measure,  to  his  patronage.  To  those  of  them 
who  needed  pecuniary  assistance  for  the  voyage 
to  England,  he  gave  generously  and  cheerfully, 
in  proportion  to  his  abilities.  After  their  return, 
they  commonly  waited  upon  him  for  his  further 
direction,  both  with  regard  to  their  studies  and 
the  manner  of  performing  clerical  and  parochial 
duties.  His  own  improvements  as  a  scholar,  as 
a  divine,  and  as  a  clergyman,  abundantly  quali- 
fied him  for  this  direction ;  and  no  one  ever  fol- 
lowed it  without  finding  his  account  in  doing  so. 


MKU   OF   DK.   JO  MX  SOX.  129 

Besides  giving  them  suitable  and  friendly  advice, 
it  was  his  practice  to  recommend,  and  then  lend 
to  them  the  most  useful  books,  of  which  he  had 
a  large  and  valuable  collection. 

I  have  here  spoken  of  Dr.  Johnson  as  being 
at  the  head  of  the  clergy  hi  Connecticut.  That 
he  was  really  so  in  an  equitable  sense,  must  have 
appeared  from  the  course  of  this  history ;  and 
that  the  clergy  themselves  wished  him  to  be  so 
in  a  legal  sense,  is  evident  from  their  unanimous 
request,  first  to  Dr.  Gibson,  and  afterwards  to 
Dr.  Sherlock,  that  he  might  be  appointed  the 
Bishop  of  London's  Commissary,  with  jurisdic- 
tion over  them.  In  answer  to  the  first  applica- 
tion, Bishop  Gibson  says  of  the  appointment 
requested,  in  a  letter  to  Dr.  Johnson  of  Sep- 
tember 6,  1743  :  "  This,  I  think,  would  be  right, 
or  at  least  deserve  consideration,  if  anew  com- 
mission were  to  be  granted  upon  the  death  or 
resignation  of  Mr.  Price ;  but  I  care  not  to  re- 
voke any  part  of  what  I  have  granted,  without 
his  consent.  In  the  mean  time  you  will  com- 
municate this  to  your  neighbouring  clergy, 
whom,  together  with  yourself,  I  commend  to 
the  divine  protection."  Bishop  Sherlock's  an- 
swer to  the  like  application,  is  in  a  letter  to  the 
Doctor,  dated  January  23,  1749.  "  T  received" 
says  his  Lordship,  "  a  letter  from  the  clergy  of 

K. 


130  LIFE  OF  DR.  JOHNSON. 

Connecticut,  dated  the  5th  of  September  last. 
I  agree  with  the  clergy,  that  it  is  highly  proper 
and  convenient  to  have  a  distinct  Commissary 
for  that  colony ;  and  it  is  a  great  satisfaction 
to  me  to  find  that  they  have  so  worthy  a  person 
as  yourself  amongst  them,  under  whose  care 
and  inspection  they  unanimously  desire  to  be 
placed.     I  shall  make  no  difficulty  of  sending 
a  commission  accordingly  to  you,  as  soon  as 
I  take  a  proper  authority  from  the  king,  which 
I   have  hitherto    delayed,  in  hopes   of  seeing 
another  and  better  settlement  of  ecclesiastical 
affairs  in  the  country,     It  will  not  now  be  long 
before  I  shall  be  able  to  write  more  distinctly.' 
Accordingly,  in  September  following,  he  wrote 
again  to  Dr.  Johnson,  enclosing  a  copy  of  his 
circular  letter  to  the  late  Bishop  of  London's 
Commissaries,  in  which  he  says,  "  I  have  been 
far  from  neglecting  the  affairs  of  your  churches, 
and  have  been  soliciting  the  establishment  of 
one  or  two  bishops  to  reside  in  proper  parts  of 
the  plantations,  and  to  have  the  conduct  and 
direction  of  the  whole.     I  am  sensible  for  my- 
self, that  I  am  capable  of  doing  but  little  service 
to  those  distant  churches,  and  I  am  persuaded 
that  no  bishop  residing  in   England  ought  to 
have,  or  willingly  to  undertake,  the  province. 
As  soon  as  I  came  tu  the  see  of  London,  1  pre- 


LIFE   OF   DH.  JOHNSOX  .  131 

sentecl  a  memorial  to  the  king  on  this  subject, 
which  he  referred  to  his  principal  officers  of 
state  to  be  considered."  We  see  here  the  only 
reason  why  Dr.  Johnson  was  not  appointed  the 
Bishop  of  London's  Commissary — because  Dr. 
Sherlock  took  not  a  proper  authority  from  the 
king  to  appoint  one ;  and  that  excellent  prelate 
refused  to  take  a  patent  from  the  crown  for  the 
exercise  of  jurisdiction  in  the  plantations,  be- 
cause he  was  persuaded  that  no  bishop  residing 
in  England  was  able  to  do  justice  to  the  Church 
in  the  American  colonies,  or  ought  to  have  the 
charge  of  it.  His  Lordship  continued  in  this 
opinion,  and  never  was  properly  vested  with 
ecclesiastical  jurisdiction  over  the  colonies. 
However,  he  consented  till  better  provision  could 
be  made,  to  ordain  our  candidates,  and  to  take 
such  care  of  the  interests  of  our  Church  as  he 
could,  consistently  with  the  inspection  and 
government  of  his  own  large  diocese  at  home. 
But  with  regard  to  America,  he  says,  in  ano- 
ther letter  of  April  21,  1752,  "  I  think  myself  at 
present  in  a  very  bad  situation :  bishop  of 
a  vast  country,  without  power,  or  influence,  or 
any  means  of  promoting  true  religion :  seques- 
tered from  the  people  over  whom  I  have  the  care, 
and  must  never  hope  to  see.  I  should  be  tempt- 
ed to  throw  off  all  this  care  quite,  were  it  not 

x  2 


132  LIFE  OF    DR.  JOHNSON'. 

for  the  sake  of  preserving  even  the  appearance 
of  an  Episcopal  Church  in  the  plantations." 

As  another  branch  of  Dr.  Johnson's  benevo- 
lence, it  may  be  proper  to  mention  his  remark- 
able hospitality.  For  the  greater  part  of  his 
life  he  kept  what  may  be  called  a  public  table. 
This  was  at  all  times  liberally  furnished,  but 
without  superfluity  or  needless  expense.  To  say 
nothing  of  his  parishioners  and  neighbours,  the 
poorest  of  whom  were  frequently  fed  at  hii 
table,  the  church  people  belonging  to  all  th< 
adjacent  towns  thought  it  their  duty,  when  they 
came  to  Stratford,  if  their  business  would  admit 
of  it,  to  wait  upon  him;  and  they  were  always 
hospitably  received  and  entertained  by  him. 
For  a  number  of  years  after  he  entered  upon 
his  mission,  while  there  was  no  other  clergy- 
man in  the  colony,  at  Christmas  and  the  other 
great  festivals,  his  house  was  thronged  for  se- 
veral days  together,  with  the  pious  members 
of  the  Church  from  the  neighbouring  towns, 
who  came  to  Stratford  to  spend  some  part  of 
those  solemn  seasons,  under  the  advantages  of 
his  public  and  private  ministrations.  On  such 
occasions  every  bed  was  crowded :  and  some- 
times the  number  of  these  guests  was  so  large, 
that  several  of  them  were  obliged  to  take  up 
their  lodgings  on  the  floor.  As  he  lived  on  the 
great  road  from  Boston  to  New  York,  and  had 


LIFE  OK    nil.  JOHNSON.  133 

a  large  acquaintance  in  both  places,  as  well  as 
throughout  the  country  in  general,  many  gen- 
tlemen that  travelled  contrived  their  journies 
so  as  to  make  a  stop  at  Stratford,  in  order  to 
spend  some  time  with  this  eminent  clergyman. 
He  always  received  them  not  only  with  polite- 
ness, but  in  the  most  agreeable  and  friendly 
manner :  and  his  conversation  was  such,  that 
they  could  not  but  be  pleased  with  it,  and  it 
was  their  own  fault  if  they  were  not  the  wiser 
and  better  for  it. 

His  conversation  was  enlivened  and  rendered 
more  pleasing  by  the  natural  cheerfulness  of  his 
disposition.  He  was  commonly  the  most  cheer- 
ful man  in  company,  and  frequently  said  the 
sprightliest  things  that  were  said  in  it.  Yet 
was  careful  to  keep  up  the  dignity  of  his  charac- 
ter; and  one  might  discover  in  him  the  scholar, 
the  gentleman,  the  clergyman,  and  the  pious 
Christian,  in  his  freest  and  most  cheerful  dis- 
course. He  always  endeavoured  to  introduce 
what  might  be  useful  and  improving,  as  well  as 
what  might  be  agreeable  in  conversation ;  and 
his  friends  in  general,  I  believe,  may  say,  what 
one  of  them,  who  was  acquainted  with  him  for 
fifty-five  years,  and  for  the  greater  part  of  that 
time  enjoyed  his  most  intimate  friendship,  has 
publicly  declared,  in  the  following  words  :— 
"  Without  any  hyperbole,  I  may  say  it,  I  know 


134  LIFE  OF  DR.  JOHNSOX. 

not  that  I   ever  conversed  with  him,  without 
finding  myself  afterwards  the  better  for  it*." 

What  rendered  his  conversation  peculiarly 
improving,  as  well  as  agreeable,  was  his  know- 
ledge of  the  affairs  of  the  world,  and  his  general 
acquaintance  with  all  the  branches  of  learning. 
He  was  not  only  a  good  classical  scholar,  but 
well  versed  in  all  the  liberal  arts  and  sciences. 
He  knew,  and  could  explain  with  precision,  their 
respective  boundaries  and  limits,  their  connec- 
tion with  each  other,  and  in  what  manner  they 
are  conducive  to  the  happiness  of  man.  The 
study  of  the  belles  lettres  and  polite  literature 
was  his  constant  and  favourite  amusement ;  and 
scarcely  any  thing  of  this  kind,  of  any  conse- 
quence, was  published  in  the  English  language 
in  his  time,  but  what  he  read.  But  theology, 
including  the  critical  study  of  the  holy  Scrip- 
tures in  their  original  languages,  was  his  main 
literary  employment;  and,  in  subserviency  to 
it,  history,  both  ancient  and  modern,  ecclesias- 
tical and  civil,  engaged  no  small  share  of  his 
time.  Heaven  had  blessed  him  with  a  quick 
perception, and  with  a  sound  judgment;  and  by 
an  almost  incredible  application  of  these  powers, 
through  a  long  life,  he  became  what  a  very  able 

*  Mr.  Beach,  in  his  Funeral  Sermon  ,  p.  11. 


LIFF    OF    DIl.   JOHNSON".  135 

and  competent  judge*  asserts  him  to  have  been, 
viz.  "  The  most  excellent  scholar,  and  the  most 
accomplished  divine,  that  this  colony  (Con- 
necticut) ever  had  to  glory  in."  And  had  his 
memory  been  equal  to  his  judgment,  or  to  his 
application,  he  would  perhaps  have  been  but 
little  inferior  to  the  most  celebrated  scholars  and 
divines  in  Europe. 

And  here  I  beg  leave  to  recommend  the  ex- 
ample of  his  unwearied  diligence,  in  the  pro- 
secution of  his  studies,  to  the  imitation  of  the 
clergy,  especially  of  the  younger  clergy.  With 
an  ordinary  application,  Dr.  Johnson  would  have 
been  respectable  for  his  literary  improvements, 
and  useful  in  his  station.  But  the  pitch  of  emi- 
nence which  he  gained,  and  the  distinguished 
degree  of  usefulness  which  he  acquired,  were 
the  effects  of  a  strenuous  exertion  of  ail  his  facul- 
ties, and  of  his  carefully  taking  the  advantage  of 
all  the  opportunities  that  his  situation  afforded 
for  increasing  the  stock  of  his  knowledge.  To 
exert  himself  in  this  manner  was  his  determined 
resolution  ;  and  in  pursuance  of  it,  he  never 
knew  time  to  lie  heavy  upon  his  hands.  Every 
day  appeared  to  him  too  short  for  the  business 
and  duties  it  required ;  and  therefore  he  consi- 
dered himself  as  indispensably  bound  to  husband 

*  Mr,  Beach,  ut  supra. 


J3G  LIKE  OF    DR.   JOHNSON. 

it  in  a  frugal  manner.  He  seldom  lost  an  hour 
through  carelessness,  and  never  through  indo- 
lence ;  and  he  always  blamed  himself  if  he  found, 
upon  reflection,  that  he  had  not  improved  every 
hour  to  the  best  advantage. 

Such  diligence  in  the  use  of  our  time,  for  the 
purpose  of  intellectual  improvement,  is  undoubt- 
edly, in  some  degree,  the  duty  of  all  men,  of 
whatever  station  or  character  ;  as  it  enlarges  the 
mind,  and  consequently  increases  a  man's  ability 
to  do  good,  as  well  as  renders  him  capable  of  a 
higher  degree  of  happiness,  both  here  and  here- 
after. But  this  general  duty  is  more  immedi- 
ately incumbent  on  the  clergy,  on  a  further 
account,  as,  in  the  neglect  of  it,  they  can  never 
be  sufficient  for  those  things  which  God  and 
man  have  a  right  to  expect  from  them,  in  the 
discharge  of  their  function.  He  that  undertakes 
to  instruct  others  ought  not  to  be  a  novice  him- 
self. The  clergyman  who  has  a  tolerable  concep- 
tion of  the  importance  and  dignity  of  the  sa- 
cerdotal office,  and  of  the  difficulties  attending  a 
due  execution  of  it  (and  he  that  has  not,  would 
do  well  to  read  what  St.  Jerom,  St.  Chrysostome, 
St.  Basil,  and  Erasmus  have  said  on  the  subject, 
or  at  least  some  of  the  many  excellent  pieces 
relating  to  it,  that  have  been  written  in  our  own 
language),  must  see  that  he  has  not  a  moment  to 
lose  or  trifle  away  ;  but,  on  the  other  hand,  that 


LIKK  01     Dll.  JOHNSON.  137 

he  ought  to  exert  all  his  powers  with  unremitting 
application,  and  pray  for  the  assistance  of  heaven 
to  prosper  his  endeavours,  that  he  may  be  ena- 
bled to  acquit  himself  with  honour  in  that  ha- 
zardous station  in  which  he  is  placed.  He  that 
thinks  himself  thoroughly  qualified,  in  point  of 
learning,  for  every  part  of  a  clergyman's  duty, 
which  frequently  requires  him,  among  other 
things,  to  explain  the  sublime  doctrines  of  the 
Christian  religion,  and  sometimes  to  defend  its 
truth  and  authority  against  the  various  tribes  of 
its  opposers,  betrays  his  unfitness  for  it  by  that 
very  presumption ;  and  he  that  is  conscious  of 
his  own  deficiency,  it  is  to  be  hoped,  will  endea- 
vour to  repair  it  as  effectually  and  as  speedily  as 
possible.  Every  clergyman  should  be  at  least 
well  versed  in  theology,  both  speculative  and 
practical ;  and  the  life  of  a  divine,  like  that  of 
a  Christian,  ought  to  be  progressive,  with  regard 
to  its  proper  improvements,  continually  advanc- 
ing towards  a  higher  degree  of  perfection,  and 
shining  more  and  more  unto  the  perfect  day. 

A  late  illustrious  and  excellent  prelate,  than 
whom  none  was  better  able  to  judge  of  a  clergy- 
man's duty,  and  whose  advice  ought  to  have 
peculiar  weight  with  the  American  clergy,  in 
speaking  upon  this  subject,  says,  "  Giving  in- 
struction requires  knowledge ;  and,  therefore, 
as  a  competent  degree  of  it  is  justly  expected 


138  LIFE  OF  DR.  JOHNSON. 

of  persons  before  they  enter  into  holy  orders ; 
so,  when  they  enter,  the  care  of  making  a  con- 
tinual progress  in  it  is  solemnly  promised  by 
them,  and  covenanted  for  with  them.  What 
may  be  a  very  good  beginning,  is  by  no  means 
a  sufficient  stock  to  go  on  with ;  and  even  that 
will  lessen,  if  no  pains  be  taken  to  increase  it. 
Continued  application  is  then  a  duty  of  im- 
portance. Persons  of  lower  abilities  and  at 
tainments  are  in  danger,  without  it,  of  beinj 
useless  and  despised;  and  they  who  set  out 
with  greater  advantages,  are  bound  to  endea- 
vour at  doing,  in  proportion,  greater  service  to 
the  Church  of  God.  Without  exception,  there- 
fore all  who  are  engaged  in  so  serious  an  em- 
ployment as  ours,  if  they  have  any  regard 
either  to  their  duty  or  character  must  take 
care  not  to  be  more  remarkable  for  their  diver- 
sions than  their  studies,  nor  indolently  to  trifle 
their  time  away,  instead  of  employing  it  to  good 
purposes.  And  though  most  parts  of  learning 
will  be  useful  to  us,  and  all  parts  ornamental ; 
yet  we  must  be  sure  to  remember,  what  we 
have  been  solemnly  admonished  of,  that  no 
attention  to  any  thing  else  ought  ever  to  draw 
us  away  from  the  pursuit  of  such  knowledge 
as  is  properly  tlu-ulo^ic-al.  For  to  excel  in 
other  tin-  •  iul  br  deficient  in  that,  cannot 
oast  R  inflection  either  onus  for 


LIFE  OF  DR.   JOHNSON. 

not  studying  what  we  profess,  or  on  our  pro- 
fession, as  having  little  in  it  worth  studying. 
Our  principal  business,  therefore,  must  be,  to 
obtain  a  thorough  acquaintance  with  the  Chris- 
tian faith ;  first  the  grounds,  then  the  doctrines 
of  it*." 

Dr.  Johnson's  industry  in  the  pursuit  of 
knowledge,  uncommon  as  it  was,  was  not 
greater,  nor  more  remarkable,  than  his  love  of 
truth.  Wherever  truth  appeared  to  lead,  he 
thought  it  his  duty  to  follow,  without  regarding 
the  inconveniences  that  might  be  the  conse- 
quence. And,  therefore,  soon  after  he  was  able 
to  judge  for  himself,  we  find  him  laying  aside 
the  prejudices  of  his  education,  one  after  ano- 
ther ;  giving  up  opinions  which  he  had  received 
as  properly  established  ;  and  embracing  such 
principles  as,  on  a  careful  examination,  appeared 
to  be  true,  however  contrary  to  his  former  judg- 
ment, or  to  the  received  doctrines  of  his  country. 
And  this  was  without  any  appearance  of  pride, 
or  any  affectation  of  singularity ;  for  his  whole 
conduct  discovered  that  he  departed  from  the 
provincial  standard  of  orthodoxy  with  reluc- 
tance. His  own  penetration  made  an  early  dis- 

*  See  Dr.  Seeker's  first  charge  to  the  clergy  of  his  diocese, 
when  Bishop  of  Oxford,  p.  11. 


140  J.IVL  OF  DR.   JOHN  SOX. 

covery  of  defects  in  the  theological  and  philoso- 
phical systems  that  had  been  taught  him;  and 
as  soon  as  he  had  an  opportunity  of  bringing 
them  to  a  fair  examination,  by  the  assistance  of 
books,  or  the  conversation  of  those  who  dared 
to  think  for  themselves,  he  acted  with  the  great- 
est impartiality  and  candour;  critically  examin- 
ing the  proofs  that  could  be  alleged  on  both 
sides  ;  balancing  the  difficulties  and  objections 
that  arose  from  different  views  of  the  doctrine 
in  question ;  and  endeavouring  to  regulate  his 
assent  by  the  degree  of  preponderating  evidence. 
It  was  in  this  manner  that  he  gradually  ex- 
changed the  principles  of  the  old  philosophy  for 
those  of  the  Newtonian  system  ;  that  he  quitted 
the  rigid  predestinarian  notions  for  those  which 
appeared  to  be  more  rational  and  scriptural 
doctrines  ;  and  that  he  conformed  to  the  Church 
of  England  while  he  felt  the  force  of  many 
worldly  motives  to  the  contrary. 

The  same  impartiality  which  distinguished 
his  first  inquiries  attended  him  throughout  all 
the  stages  of  his  life.  He  was  always  willing  to 
re-examine  any  principles  he  had  adopted;  and 
when  any  controversies  were  raised,  or  any  new 
doctrines  were  asserted,  of  the  least  apparent 
importance,  he  gave  a  candid  attention  to  all 
Hint  \\iis  offered  by  the  contending  parties. 


I.I  IK    Ol     DK.    JOH  N  SON.  M  I 

Although  the  northern  American  colonies 
have  never  been  troubled  with  the  controversy 
between  Protestants  and  Papists,  as  the  latter 
have  had  no  advocates  among  us  ;  yet  the  Doc- 
tor was  well  acquainted  with  the  merits  of  the 
cause,  being  a  good  master  of  literary  and  eccle- 
siastical history,  and  having  read  the  works  of 
Jewel,  Laud,  Bramhall,  Chillingworth,  and  all 
our  best  writers  on  one  side,  and  some  consider- 
able pieces  on  the  other.  But  as  to  the  two  great 
standing  disputes,  bet  ween  Christians  and  Deists, 
as  the  latter  have  been  pleased  to  call  them- 
selves, and  between  churchmen  and  dissenters, 
we  have  been  more  nearly  concerned  in  them ; 
and  he  made  it  a  rule  to  read  all  that  was  pub- 
lished on  both  sides,  either  in  England  or  Ame- 
rica. It  is  true,  no  writers  on  the  side  of  infi- 
delity, worthy  of  any  notice,  have  appeared  in 
the  colonies;  but  we  have  had  large  importa- 
tions of  infidel  books,  and  much  mischief  has 
been  done  by  the  circulation  of  them.  It  there- 
fore as  greatly  concerns  the  American  clergy  to 
study  the  controversy,  as  if  the  writers  them- 
selves had  been  the  growth  of  our  own  soil.  In 
this  branch  of  study,  Dr.  Johnson  was  eminent. 
There  is  hardly  a  book  quoted  in  Dr.  Leland's 
View  of  the  Deistical  Writers  with  which  he  was 
unacquainted;  and,  before  that  valuable  work 


142  LIFE  OF  DR.   JOHNSOX. 

was  published,  I  remember  to  have  heard  him, 
in  conversation,  give  an  account  of  the  various 
attacks  upon  revelation,  and  of  the  defences 
which  they  occasioned,  similar  to  that  given  by 
that  excellent  writer.  Nor  was  he  less  atten- 
tive to  what  appeared  in  the  other  controversy, 
which  relates  to  matters  of  much  inferior  im- 
portance, as  it  was  his  lot  more  than  once  to  be 
personally  engaged  in  it.  All  this  attention  was 
owing  to  his  natural  love  of  truth  and  justice, 
and  not  to  any  diffidence  of  his  own  religious 
principles ;  for  he  had  firmly  established  all  of 
them  in  the  early  part  of  his  life,  and  none  of 
them  were  ever  shaken  after  his  examination  of 
the  Trinitarian  disputes,  about  the  year  1726. 

Dr.  Johnson's  great  fondness  for  his  studies 
was  under  due  regulation,  and  was  never  suf- 
fered to  encroach  upon  the  more  active  duties 
of  his  station,  whether  of  a  public  or  private  na- 
ture. With  regard  to  preaching,  he  was  careful 
to  provide  for  the  instruction  and  edification  of 
his  people,  in  the  best  manner  that  he  could, 
according  to  his  judgment. 

He  seldom,  if  ever,  ventured  to  preach  ex- 
tempore*, notwithstanding  the  largeness  of  his 

*  Although,  in  a  general  way,  extempore  harangues  are 
more  pleasing  to  the  populace  than  the  best  discourses  that 
can  be  pruned,  if  not  recited  memoritcr  ;  yet  there  have  been 


LIFE  OF   DR.   JOHXSo  M-'i 

store  of  religious  knowledge,  and  his  great  faci- 
lity of  expressing  himself.     He  chose  rather  that 

some  instances,  in  which  sermons  that  have  been  written,  and 
read  to  the  congregation,  have  been  closely  attended  to,  and 
greatly  admired,  by  every  part  of  the  audience.  We  are  told 
by  Dr.  Birch,  in  his  Life  of  Archbishop  Tillotson,  that  he,  who 
is  emphatically  called,  in  the  Spectator,  the  great  British 
Preacher,  and  who  was  more  universally  admired  in  the 
pulpit  than  any  of  his  cotemporaries,  "  was  never  capable  of 
committing  his  sermons  to  memory,  or  preaching  extempore, 
according  to  the  custom  of  the  earlier  part  of  his  time,  though 
so  great  a  master  of  language,  as  well  as  the  whole  compass  of 
theological  learning.  This  appeared  from  an  incident  that  is 
related  on  good  authority.  Happening  to  be  with  a  friend  in 
the  country,  who  was  importunate  with  him  to  preach,  though 
he  was  not  furnished  with  a  sermon,  he  ventured  into  the 
pulpit,  where  he  took  for  his  text  one  of  the  plainest  and  ful- 
lest of  matter  that  he  could  recollect,  For  we  must  all  appear 
before  the  judgment-seat  of  Christ ;  upon  which  he  had  no  less 
than  five  discourses  in  his  works  :  and  yet  he  soon  found  himself 
so  much  at  a  loss,  that  after  about  ten  minutes  spent  with  great 
pain  to  himself,  and  no  great  satisfaction  to  his  audience,  he 
came  down  with  a  resolution  never  to  make  the  like  attempt 
for  the  future.  And  it  is  observable,  that  the  same  kind  of 
confusion  happened  to  Dr.  Sanderson,  who  was  equally  re- 
markable for  an  excellent  memory,  and  a  clear  logical  head, 
when,  at  the  persuasion  of  his  friend  Dr.  Hammond,  he  left  his 
sermon  with  him,  and  endeavoured  to  repeat  it  in  a  village 
congregation*." 

Indeed  the  account  given  by  Dr.  Mayuard,  who  succeeded 

*   The  Lif«  of  Tillotson  f  p.  23.!    See  Walton'*  Lift  of  Sanderson.' 


144  LIFE  OF   DR.  JOHN  SOX. 

all  his  sermons  should  be  the  production  of  study 
and  cool  reflection,  composed  with  care,  and 
written  down  at  large  ;  and  in  preaching  them 
he  generally  confined  himself  to  what  he  had 
written.  His  sermons  were  consequently  regular 

Dr.  Tillotson  as  preacher  at  Lincoln's  Inn,  is  somewhat  dif- 
ferent. He  says,  that  being  with  Dr.  Tillotson,  and  on  a 
certain  occasion  "  observing  to  him,  that  he  was  glad  that 
he  had  preserved  his  sermons,  because  he  always  thought 
that  his  Grace  had  preached  from  short  notes  only,  the 
Archbishop  replied,  that  he  had  always  written  every  word 
before  he  preached  it  ;  but  used  to  get  it  by  heart,  till 
he  found  that  it  heated  his  head  so  much  a  day  or  two  before 
and  after  he  preached,  that  he  was  forced  to  leave  it  off."  Dr. 
Maynard  also  says,  "  that  Dr.  Wake,  at  the  same  time  preacher 
at  Gray's  Inn,  one  day  told  him  that  he  was  resolved  to  preach 
no  longer  without  book,  since  every  body,  even  Dr.  Tillotson, 
had  now  left  it  off*." 

However,  according  to  every  account,  Dr.  Tillotson  care- 
fully composed  and  wrote  down  all  his  sermons  ;  and,  during 
the  period  of  his  greatest  eminence  as  a  preacher,  he  never 
troubled  himself  to  get  them  by  heart.  And  yet,  not  only  at 
Lincoln's  Inn,  but  at  St.  Lawrence  Jewry,  and  wherever  he 
preached,  "  the  audience  generally  stood,  or  sat,  with  the 
greatest  attention,  and  even  waited  upon  his  discourses,  hang- 
ing upon  his  lips.  One  should  hardly  see  a  wandering  eye 
among  them  ;  and  when  his  sermons  were  ended,  they  went 
away  with  satisfied  minds,  and  glad  hearts,  and  cheerful 
countenances!." 


to  llu-  .NJIIIH-  /.i/>,  p.  llf'i.      ll)id.   p.  -10S. 


LIFE  OF  DR.  JOHNSON.  145 

compositions ;  and  by  reason  of  the  clearness 
of  method,  and  a  studied  plainness,  but  correct- 
ness, of  language,  they  were  at  once  adapted 
to  the  use  either  of  a  learned  or  an  illiterate 
audience. 

In  pronouncing  them,  as  well  as  in  reading 
the  Liturgy,  or  any  of  the  occasional  offices,  his 
manner  was  solemn,  and  sometimes  pathetic. 
He  appeared  grave  and  composed,  both  in  the 
pulpit  and  desk ;  but  it  could  plainly  be  dis- 
covered, by  the  elevation  and  inflections  of  his 
voice,  as  well  as  by  his  countenance  and  ges- 
tures, that  he  was  often  warmed  and  animated 
by  his  subject.  He  had  a  proper  strength  of 
voice,  which  continued  to  the  last;  but  the 
clearness  of  it  began  to  fail  him  some  years  be- 
fore his  death. 

Nor  was  he  less  attentive  to  the  more  private 
parochial  duties  than  to  his  public  performances. 
As  long  as  he  was  able  to  go  abroad  without 
difficulty,  he  was  frequently  among  his  pa- 
rishioners, at  their  own  houses,  not  overlooking 
the  poorest  or  the  meanest.  He  conversed 
familiarly  with  all  of  them,  and  adapted  his 
conversation  to  their  respective  circumstances 
and  capacities.  Those  that  were  vicious,  he 
endeavoured  to  reclaim,  in  the  spirit  of  meek- 
ness; those  that  were  apt  to  be  negligent  and 

L 


146  LIFE  OF  DR.  JOHNSON. 

careless,  he  endeavoured  to  quicken  to  a 
sense  of  their  duty ;  those  that  were  ignorant, 
he  endeavoured  to  instruct;  while  those  that 
appeared  to  be  serious  and  religious,  he  endea- 
voured to  strengthen  and  confirm,  by  placing 
before  them  the  great  motives  to  perseverance, 
and  still  further  improvements.  When  any  of 
them  were  sick,  he  conscientiously  visited  them, 
treating  them  in  such  a  manner  as  he  thought 
their  cases  required,  with  great  compassion  and 
tenderness. 

In  his  free  intercourse  with  his  parishioners, 
he  studied  to  promote,  and  was  successful  in 
promoting,  peace  and  good  neighbourhood,  as 
well  as  the  social  virtues  in  general.  But  what 
always  lay  nearest  his  heart  was  the  interest 
and  honour  of  religion,  and  the  eternal  happiness 
of  those  with  whom  he  was  connected.  That 
these  great  ends  might  be  accomplished,  as  far 
as  possible,  he  faithfully  laboured,  he  earnestly 
prayed  ;  and  he  had  the  satisfaction  of  seeing 
himself  instrumental  in  advancing  them  in  many 
unquestionable  instances.  This  consideration 
afforded  him  the  greatest  pleasure  of  his  life, 
next  to  the  uninterrupted  expectation  of  a 
blessed  immortality. 

Dr.  Johnson's  piety  was  without  any  mixture 
of  that  gloom   or   melancholy  which   unfortu- 


LIFE   OF   J)K.   JOHNSON.  147 

nately  too  often  attends  it,  and  renders  it  useless 
to  the  world.  He  appeared  to  live  under  a 
strong  sense  of  religion  from  his  early  youth. 
He  never  seemed  forgetful  of  his  obligations  to, 
and  his  immediate  dependence  upon,  Almighty 
God;  but,  acknowledged  him  in  all  his  ways, 
owning  his  power  and  providence,  adoring  his 
wisdom,  in  the  daily  occurrences  of  life,  and  re- 
ferring all  things  to  his  righteous  and  gracious 
disposal.  His  patience  in  adversity,  and  his 
resignation  to  the  will  of  heaven,  under  the 
heavy  afflictions  he  met  with  in  the  decline  of 
his  life,  (and  till  then  he  had  hardly  any  experi- 
mental knowledge  what  affliction  was)  were  as 
conspicuous  and  exemplary  as  any  other  Chris- 
tian graces  that  he  possessed. 

He  had  the  highest  esteem  for  the  peculiar 
doctrines  of  revelation ;  and  he  considered,  even 
with  rapturous  admiration  and  gratitude,  the 
wonderful  plan  that  was  contrived  for  our  re- 
demption, and  the  still  more  wonderful  execu- 
tion of  it,  by  the  incarnation  and  sufferings  of 
the  eternal  Son  of  God.  He  never  was  dis- 
posed to  question  God's  willingness  and  desire 
to  make  him  everlastingly  happy,  since  he  was 
graciously  pleased  not  to  withhold  his  Son,  but 
to  freely  give  him  up,  for  the  ransom  and  salva- 
tion even  of  the  worst  of  sinners, 

L  2 


148  LIFE  OF  DR.  JOHNSON. 

Accordingly  his  faith  in  the  divine  promises 
was  strong,  and  vigorous,  and  active ;  as  he 
was  conscious  to  himself  of  having  sincerely  en- 
deavoured, to  the  best  of  his  power,  to  perform 
the  conditions  on  which  they  are  suspended. 
One  of  his  most  intimate  friends  *  tells  us,  that 
"  many  years  ago  he,  in  the  most  serious  man- 
ner, informed  him,  that,  if  it  was  God's  will,  he 
found  himself  willing,  when  he  laid  himself 
down  at  night,  never  to  awake  in  this  world 
again." 

With  such  faith  and  resignation  he  went  on, 
from  year  to  year,  promoting  the  glory  of  God, 
advancing  the  happiness  of  his  fellow  men,  and 
perfecting  himself.  At  length,  having  finished 
the  work  assigned  him,  and  being  ripe  for  im- 
mortality, God  was  pleased  to  translate  him 
from  the  wilderness  of  this  world  to  the  city  of 
the  living  God,  the  heavenly  Jerusalem ;  from 
the  company  of  his  earthly  friends  to  that  glo- 
rious society,  which  consists  of  angels  and  arch- 
angels, as  well  as  of  the  spirits  of  just  men  made 
perfect. 

*  Mr.  Beach,  ut  supra. 


LI  11   oi   nu.  JOHNSON.  149 

Concluding  Remarks  by  the  Editor. 

IN  the  perusal  of  the  preceding  pages,  the 
reader  has  no  doubt  been  struck  with  the  re- 
markable fact,  that  at  a  time  when  the  Episcopal 
Church  was  unknown  in  Connecticut,  the  Rev. 
Dr.  Cutler,  the  President  of  Yale  College ;  Dr. 
Johnson;  and  other  eminent  congregational 
ministers  in  that  state,  were  led  to  examine  the 
subject  of  Episcopacy ;  and  that  their  researches 
terminated  in  a  resolution  to  obtain  valid  ordina- 
tion from  the  hands  of  bishops.  This  resolution 
was  opposed  to  all  the  prejudices  of  their  edu- 
cation, sanctioned  and  confirmed  by  the  general 
belief  and  practice  of  their  countrymen.  It  cast 
the  most  pointed  and  obnoxious  censure  on  the 
religious  constitution  of  their  country,  which 
every  motive  of  interest  and  reputation  urged 
them  to  respect  and  support.  The  important 
change  in  their  views  must  therefore  have  been 
a  reluctant  sacrifice  paid  to  truth.  They  could 
have  been  excited  only  by  that  confidence  which 
a  sense  of  the  supreme  obligations  of  truth  in- 
spires, to  carry  into  effect  a  resolution  which 
they  foresaw  would  subject  them  to  many 
worldly  inconveniences,  and  to  general  odium 
and  reproach,  at  a  period  when  the  sacred  rights 
of  conscience  were  less  understood  and  re- 
spected than  at  the  present  day. 


150  LI  Ft  OF  DR.  JOHNSON. 

There  are  found  persons  who  assert,  that  all 
inquiries  concerning  the  mode  of  conveying  from 
the  divine  head  of  the  Church  the  authority  of 
the  priesthood  are  trivial,  useless,  and  even  hos- 

Ltile  to  the  interests  of  piety ;  and  that  those 
who  engage  in  them  betray  a  narrowness  of 
mind  and  disposition  incompatible  with  the  en- 
larged love  of  truth,  and  with  Christian  charity. 
But  may  not  the  language  of  expostulation  be 
justly  raised  against  those  who  sport  these  as- 
sertions ?  In  treating  contemptuously  a  subject 
which,  to  say  the  least,  many  wise  and  good 
men  in  every  age  have  deemed  of  the  first  im- 
portance, do  they  not  warrant  the  suspicion  that 
they  have  never  seriously  and  fully  examined  it  ? 
The  advocates  of  Episcopacy,  while  they  are 
anxious  to  enforce,  what  the  Universal  Church 
has  always  maintained,  the  necessity  and  efficacy 
of  the  ministrations  of  a  valid  priesthood,  and 
the  duty  of  preserving  "  the  unity  of  the  spirit 
in  the  bond  of  peace,"  do  not  presumptuously 
withhold  the  mercies  of  God  from  any  who  sin- 
cerely seek  to  know  and  to  do  his  will.  Does  not 
then  the  charge  of  violating  the  spirit  of  Chris- 
tian charity  recoil  on  those  who  thus  unjustly 
and  intemperately  cast  it  on  others  ? 

It  is  not  the  intention  of  the  Editor  to  attempt 
to  exhibit  the  importance  of  the  inquiry  concern- 


LIFE   OF  DR.  JOHNSON.  151 

ing  the  mode  in  which  valid  ordination  is  to  be 
obtained.  This  inquiry  is  conducted  to  a  clear, 
and,  he  ventures  to  say,  unanswerable  conclusion 
in  the  tracts  of  the  immortal  Chillingworth  and 
Leslie* ;  men  who  yield  to  none  in  strength 
and  variety  of  talents,  in  closeness  of  reasoning, 
and  in  extent  and  accuracy  of  learning,  and  to 
whom  the  Church  is  indebted  for  the  best  de- 
fences that  are  extant  of  her  faith  and  doctrines. 
Nor  is  it  his  intention  to  prove,  that  in  every  age 
of  the  Church,  men  of  the  most  exalted  piety 
and  talents,  from  the  holy  martyr  Ignatius, 
Bishop  of  Antioch,  the  contemporary  of  the 
Apostles,  to  many  who  now  shine  as  distin- 
guished luminaries  in  the  Church,  uniformly 
hold  the  language,  "  Let  no  man  do  any  thing 
of  what  belongs  to  the  Church  without  the 
bishop  t."  He  deems  it,  however,  necessary^~A 
to  remark,  that  no  one  who  has  perused  the 
preceding  pages  can  consider  Dr.  Johnson's 
opinion  of  the  necessity  of  Episcopal  ordination 
to  the  exercise  of  a  valid  ministry,  as  the  off- 
spring of  a  weak  and  uninformed  mind,  or  of 
a  narrow  and  bigotted  heart.  And  concerning 

*  The  tracts  of  Leslie  here  alluded  to  are  republished  in  the 
Scholar  Armed. 

f  Ignatius,  Epis.  to  the  Smyrneans, 


APPENDIX. 


LETTERS  TO  DR.  JOHNSON, 

FROM 

BISHOP  BERKELEY,  ARCHBISHOP  SECKER, 
BISHOP  LOWTH,  AND  OTHERS. 


[The  following  Letters,  which  are  but  a  small  part  of  the 
Correspondence  of  the  English  Clergy  with  Dr.  Johnson, 
are  printed  from  faithful  copies,  taken  by  Dr.  Chandler 
from  the  originals.  It  is  much  to  be  regretted  that  the 
copies  of  the  rest  of  this  Correspondence ,  together  with  Dr. 
Chandler's  own  valuable  and  extensive  Correspondence  and 
large  collection  of  Manuscripts  relative  to  the  Civil  and 
Ecclesiastical  A/airs  of  this  country  before  the  Revolu- 
tion, have  been  destroyed.] 


Letters  from  Bishop  Berkeley  to  Dr.  Johnson. 

*     *    »#**#/#   r  #*''#»»     f 

IT  is  a  common  fault  for  men  to  hate  opposition,  and  to 

be  too  much  wedded  to  their  own  opinions.     I  am  so 

sensible  of  this  in  others,  that  I  could  not  pardon  it  to 


APPENDIX. 


LETTERS  TO  DR.  JOHNSON, 

FROM 

BISHOP  BERKELEY,  ARCHBISHOP  SECKER, 
BISHOP  LOWTH,  AND  OTHERS. 


[The  following  Letters,  which  are  but  a  small  part  of  the 
Correspondence  of  the  English  Clergy  with  Dr.  Johnson, 
are  printed  from  faithful  copies,  taken  by  Dr.  Chandler 
from  the  originals.  It  is  much  to  be  regretted  that  the 
copies  of  the  rest  of  this  Correspondence,  together  with  Dr. 
Chandler's  own  valuable  and  extensive  Correspondence  and 
large  collection  of  Manuscripts  relative  to  the  Civil  and 
Ecclesiastical  Affairs  of  this  country  before  the  Revolu- 
tion, have  been  destroyed.] 


Letters  from  Bishop  Berkeley  to  Dr.  Johnson. 

***###*#;£##*#* 

IT  is  a  common  fault  for  men  to  hate  opposition,  and  to 
be  too  much  wedded  to  their  own  opinions.  I  am  so 
sensible  of  this  in  others,  that  I  could  not  pardon  it  to 


156  APPENDIX. 

myself,  if  I  considered  mine  any  further  than  they  seem 
to  me  to  be  true ;  which  I  shall  be  the  better  able  to 
judge  of  when  they  have  passed  the  scrutiny  of  persons 
so  well  qualified  to  examine  them  as  you  and  your  friends 
appear  to  be  ;  to  whom  my  illness  must  be  an  apology 
for  not  sending  this  answer  sooner. 

1.  The  true  use  and  end  of  natural  philosophy  is  to 
explain  the  phenomena  of  nature,  which  is  done  by  dis- 
covering the  laws  of  nature,  and  reducing  particular 
appearances  to  them.  This  is  Sir  Isaac  Newton's 
method,  and  such  method  or  design  is  not  in  the  least 
inconsistent  with  the  principles  I  lay  down.  This  me- 
chanical philosophy  doth  not  assign  or  suppose  any 
one  natural  efficient  cause  in  the  strict  and  proper  sense ; 
nor  is  it,  as  to  its  use,  concerned  about  matter,  nor  is 
matter  connected  therewith,  nor  doth  it  infer  the  being 
of  matter.  It  must  be  owned  indeed  that  the  mechanical 
philosophers  do  suppose  (though  unnecessarily)  the 
being  of  matter.  They  do  even  pretend  to  demonstrate 
that  matter  is  proportional  to  gravity,  which,  if  they 
could,  this  indeed  would  furnish  an  unanswerable  ob- 
jection. But  let  us  examine  their  demonstration.  It  is 
laid  down  in  the  first  place,  that  the  momentum  of  any 
body  is  the  product  of  its  quantity  by  its  velocity,  moles 
in  celeritatem  ducta.  If,  therefore,  the  velocity  is  given, 
the  momentum  will  be  as  its  quantity.  But  it  is  ob- 
served that  bodies  of  all  kinds  descend  in  vacuo  with 
the  same  velocity  ;  therefore  the  momentum  of  descend- 
ing bodies  is  as  the  quantity  or  moles,  i.  e.  gravity  is 
as  matter.  But  this  argument  concludes  nothing, 
and  is  a  mere  circle.  For  I  ask,  when  it  is  premised 
that  the  momentum  is  equal  to  the  moles  in  cekrita- 


APFKNMMX.  157 

tern  ducta,  how  the  moles  or  quantity  of  matter  is  esti- 
mated? If  you  say,  by  extent,  the  proposition  is  not 
true :  if  by  weight,  then  you  suppose  that  the  quan- 
tity of  matter  is  proportional  to  matter,  i.  e.  the  con- 
clusion is  taken  for  granted  in  one  of  the  premises. 
As  for  absolute  space  and  motion,  which  are  also  sup- 
posed without  any  necessity  or  use,  I  refer  you  to 
what  I  have  already  published,  particularly  in  a  Latin 
treatise,  De  Motu,  which  I  shall  take  care  to  send 
you. 

2.  Cause  is  taken  in  different  senses.     A  proper  ac- 
tive efficient  cause  I  can  conceive  none  but  spirit ;  nor 
any  action,  strictly  speaking,  but  where  there  is  will. 
But  this   doth    not  hinder    the   allowing   occasional 
causes  (which  are  in  truth  but  signs),  and  more  is  not 
requisite  in  the  best  physics,  i.  e.  the  mechanical  phi- 
losophy.    Neither  doth  it  hinder  the  admitting  other 
causes  besides  God,  such  as  spirits  of  different  orders, 
which  may  be  termed  active  causes,  as  acting  indeed 
though  by  limited  and  derivative  powers.     But  as  for 
an  unthinking  agent,  no  point  of  physics  is  explained 
by  it,  nor  is  it  conceivable. 

3.  Those  who  have  all  along  contended  for  a  material 
world,  have  yet  acknowledged  that  natura  naturam  (to 
use  the  language  of  the  schoolmen)  is  God  ;  and  that  the 
divine  conservation  of  things  is  equipollent  to,  and,  in 
fact,  the  same  thing  with  a  continued  repeated  creation : 
in  a  word,  that  conservation  and  creation  differ  only  in 
the  terminus  a  quo.     These  are  the  common  opinions  of 
schoolmen ;  and  Durandus,  who  held  the  world  to  be  a 
machine  like  a  clock  made  and  put  in  motion  by  God, 
but  afterwards  continued  to  go  of  itself,  was  therein 


158  APPENDIX. 

particular,  and  had  few  followers.  The  very  poets 
teach  a  doctrine  not  unlike  the  schools — Mens  agitat 
molem.  Virg.  ^Eneid,  vi.  The  Stoics  and  Platonists  are 
every  where*  full  of  the  same  notion.  I  am  not  there- 
fore singular  in  this  point  itself,  so  much  as  in  my 
way  of  proving  it.  Further,  it  seems  to  me  that  the 
power  and  wisdom  of  God  are  as  worthily  set  forth  by 
supposing  him  to  act  immediately  as  an  omnipresent 
infinitely  active  spirit,  as  by  supposing  him  to  act  by 
mediation  of  subordinate  causes,  in  preserving  and  go- 
verning the  natural  world.  A  clock  indeed  may  go 
independent  of  its  maker  or  artificer,  inasmuch  as  the 
gravitation  of  its  pendulum  proceeds  from  another 
cause,  and  that  the  artificer  is  not  the  adequate  cause 
of  the  clock;  so  that  the  analogy  would  not  be  just, 
to  suppose  a  clock  is  in  respect  of  its  artist  what  the 
world  is  in  respect  of  its  Creator.  For  aught  I  can  see, 
it  is  no  disparagement  to  the  perfections  of  God  to  say, 
that  ail  things  necessarily  depend  on  him  as  their 
Conservator  as  well  as  Creator,  and  that  all  nature 
would  shrink  to  nothing  if  not  upheld  and  preserved 
in  being  by  the  same  force  that  first  created  it.  This 
I  am  sure  is  agreeable  to  holy  Scripture,  as  well  as 
to  the  writings  of  the  most  esteemed  philosophers  ;  and 
if  it  be  considered  that  men  make  use  of  tools  and 
machines  to  supply  defect  of  power  in  themselves,  we 
shall  think  it  no  honour  to  the  divinity  to  attribute 
such  things  to  him. 

4.  As  to  guilt,  it  is  the  same  thing  whether  I  kill  a 
man  with  my  hands  or  an  instrument;  whether  I  do 
it  myself  or  make  use  of  a  ruffian.  The  imputation 
therefore  upon  the  sanctity  of  God  is  equal,  whether  we 


APPENDIX.  159 

suppose  our  sensations  to  be  produced  immediately  by 
God,  or  by  the  mediation  of  instruments  and  subordi- 
nate causes,  all  which  are  his  creatures,  and  moved  by 
his  laws.  This  theological  consideration,  therefore, 
may  be  waved,  as  leading  beside  the  question;  for 
such  I  hold  all  points  to  be  which  bear  equally  hard 
on  both  sides  of  it.  Difficulties  about  the  principle  of 
moral  actions  will  cease,  if  we  consider  that  all  guilt  is 
in  the  will,  and  that  our  ideas,  from  whatever  cause 
they  are  produced,  are  alike  inert. 

5.  As  to  the  art  and   contrivance  in  the  parts   of 
animals,  &c.  I  have  considered  that  matter  in  the  Prin- 
ciples of  Human  K?wwledge,  and,  if  I  mistake  not,  suffi- 
ciently shown  the  wisdom  and  use  thereof,  considered 
as  signs  and  means  of  information.     I  do  not  indeed 
wonder,  that  on  first  reading  what  I  have  written,  men 
are  not  thoroughly  convinced.  On  the  contrary,  I  should 
very  much  wonder  if  prejudices,  which  have  been  many 
years  taking  root,  should  be  extirpated  in  a  few  hours 
reading.     I  had   no  inclination  to  trouble  the  world 
with  large  volumes.  What  I  have  done  was  rather  with 
a  view  of  giving  hints  to  thinking  men,  who  have  leisure 
and  curiosity  to  go  to  the  bottom  of  things,  and  pur- 
sue them  in  their  own   minds.     Two  or  three  times 
reading  these  small  tracts,  and  making  what  is  read 
the  occasion  of  thinking,  would,  I  believe,  render  the 
whole  familiar  and  easy  to  the  mind,  and  take  off  that 
shocking  appearance  which  hath  often  been  observed 
to  attend  speculative  truths. 

6.  I  see  no  difficulty  in  conceiving  a  change  of  state, 
such  as  is  vulgarly  called  Death,  as  well  without  as 
with  material  substance.     It  is  sufficient  for  that  pur- 


160  APPENDIX. 

pose  that  we  allow  sensible  bodies,  i.  e.  such  as  are 
immediately  perceived  by  sight  and  touch,  the  exist- 
ence I  am  so  far  from  questioning  (as  philosophers  are 
used  to  do),  that  I  establish  it,  I  think,  upon  evident 
principles.  Now,  it  seems  very  easy  to  conceive  the 
soul  to  exist  in  a  separate  state  («.  e.  divested  from 
those  limits  and ,  laws  of  motion  and  perception  with 
which  she  is  embarrassed  here,)  and  to  exercise  herself 
on  new  ideas,  without  the  intervention  of  these  tangible 
things  we  call  bodies.  It  is  even  very  possible  to  ap- 
prehend how  the  soul  may  have  ideas  of  colours  without 
an  eye,  or  of  sounds  without  an  ear.  *  *  *  *  ' 


Cloyne,Aug.23,  1749. 
Rev.  Sir, 

I  am  obliged  for  the  account  you  have  sent  me  of 
the  prosperous  estate  of  learning  in  your  college  of 
New  Haven.  I  approve  of  the  regulations  made  there, 
and  am  particularly  pleased  to  find  your  sons  have 
made  such  a  progress  as  appears  from  their  elegant  ad- 
dress to  me  in  the  Latin  tongue.  It  must  indeed  give 
me  a  very  sensible  satisfaction  to  hear  that  my  weak 
endeavours  have  been  of  some  use  and  service  to  that 
part  of  the  world.  I  have  two  letters  of  yours  at  once 
on  my  hands  to  answer,  for  which  business  of  various 
kinds  must  be  my  apology.  As  to  the  first,  wherein 
you  enclosed  a  small  pamphlet  relating  to  tar  water, 
I  can  only  say  in  behalf  of  those  points  in  which  the 
ingenious  author  seems  to  differ  from  me,  that  I  ad- 


APPENDIX.  Iti 

vanco  nothing  which  is  not  grounded  on  experience,  as 
may  be  seen  at  large  in  Mr.  Prior's  narrative  of  the 
effects  of  tar  water,  printed  three  or  four  years  ago, 
and  which  may  be  supposed  to  have  reached  America. 
For  the  rest  I  am  glad  to  find  a  spirit  towards  learn- 
ing prevails  in  those  parts,  particularly  New  York, 
where  you  say  a  college  is  projected,  which  has  my 
best  wishes.  At  the  same  time  I  am  sorry  that  the 
condition  of  Ireland,  containing  such  numbers  of  poor 
uneducated  people,  for  whose  sake  charity  schools  are 
erecting  throughout  the  kingdom,  obligeth  us  to  draw 
charities  from  England ;  so  far  are  we  from  being  able 
to  extend  our  bounty  to  New  York,  a  country  in  pro- 
portion much  richer  than  our  own.  But  as  you  are 
pleased  to  desire  my  advice  upon  this  undertaking,  I 
send  the  following  hints  to  be  enlarged  and  improved 
by  your  own  judgment. 

I  would  not  advise  the  applying  to  England  for  char- 
ters or  statutes  (which  might  cause  great  trouble,  ex- 
pence  and  delay),  but  to  do  the  business  quietly  within 
yourselves. 

I  believe  it  may  suffice  to  begin  with  a  president  and 
two  fellows.  If  they  can  procure  but  three  fit  persons, 
I  doubt  not  the  college,  from  the  smallest  beginnings, 
would  soon  grow  considerable.  I  should  conceive  good 
hopes  were  you  at  the  head  of  it. 

Let  them  by  all  means  supply  themselves  out  of  the 
seminaries  in  New  England.  For  I  am  very  apprehen- 
sive none  can  be  got  in  Old  England  (who  are  willing 
to  go)  worth  sending. 

Let  the  Greek  and  Latin  classics  be  well  taught. 
Be  this  the  first  care  as  to  learning.  But  the  principal 

M 


162  APPENDIX. 

care  must  be  good  life  and  morals,  to  which  (as  well  as 
to  study)  early  hours  and  temperate  meals  will  much 
conduce. 

If  the  terms  for  degrees  are  the  same  as  at  Oxford 
or  Cambridge,  this  would  give  credit  to  the  college, 
and  pave  the  way  for  admitting  their  graduates  ad  eun- 
dem  in  the  English  universities. 

Small  premiums  in  books,  or  distinctions  in  habit, 
may  prove  useful  encouragements  to  the  students. 

I  would  advise  that  the  building  be  regular,  plain 
and  cheap,  and  that  each  student  have  a  small  room 
(about  ten  feet  square)  to  himself. 

I  recommended  this  nascent  seminary  to  an  English 
bishop,  to  try  what  might  be  done  there.  But  by  his 
answer  it  seems  the  colony  is  judged  rich  enough  to 
educate  its  own  youth. 

Colleges  from  small  beginning  grow  great  by  subse- 
quent bequests  and  benefactions.  A  small  matter  will 
suffice  to  set  one  a-going.  And  when  this  is  once  well 
done,  there  is  no  doubt  it  will  go  on  and  thrive.  The. 
chief  concern  must  be  to  set  out  in  a  good  method,  and 
introduce  from  the  very  first  a  good  taste  into  the  so- 
ciety. For  this  end  its  principal  expence  should  be  in 
making  a  handsome  provision  for  the  president  and 
fellows. 

I  have  thrown  together  these  few  crude  thoughts  for 
you  to  ruminate  upon  and  digest  in  your  own  judg- 
ment, and  propose  from  yourself,  as  you  see  conve* 
nient. 

My  correspondence  with  patients  that  drink  tar 
water  obliges  me  to  be  less  punctual  in  corresponding 
with  my  friends.  But  I  shall  be  always  glad  to  hear 


APPENDIX.  163 

from  you.     My  sincere  good  wishes  and  prayers  attend 
you  in  all  your  laudable  undertakings. 

I  am  your  faithful  humble  servant, 

G.  CLOYNE. 


Cloyne.July  17,  1750. 
Rev.  Sir, 

A  few  months  ago  I  had  an  opportunity  of  writing 
to  you  and  Mr.  Honyman,  by  an  inhabitant  of  Rhode 
Island  government.  I  would  not  nevertheless  omit  the 
present  occasion  of  saluting  you,  and  letting  you  know, 
that  it  gave  me  great  pleasure  to  hear  from  Mr.  Bourk, 
a  passenger  from  those  parts,  that  a  late  sermon  of 
yours  at  New  Haven,  hath  had  a  very  good  effect  in 
reconciling  several  to  the  Church.  I  find  also  by  a 
letter  from  Mr.  Clap,  that  learning  continues  to  make 
notable  advances  in  your  college.  This  gives  me  great 
satisfaction.  And  that  God  may  bless  your  worthy 
endeavours,  and  crown  them  with  success,  is  the  sin- 
cere prayer  of,  Rev.  Sir, 

Your  faithful  brother  and  obedient  servant, 

G.  CLOYNE. 

P.S.  I  hope  your  ingenious  sons  are  still  an  ornament 
to  Yale  College,  and  tread  in  their  father's  steps. 


Cloyne,  My  25,  1751. 
Rev.  Sir, 

I  would  not  let  Mr.  Hall  depart  without  a  line  from 
me  in  acknowledgment  of  your  letter  which  he  put  into 
my  hands. 

M  2 


164  APPENDIX. 

As  for  Mr.  Hutchinson's  writings,  I  am  not  acquainted 
with  them.  I  live  in  a  remote  corner,  where  many  mo- 
dern things  escape  me.  Only  this  I  can  say,  that  I 
have  observed  that  author  to  be  mentioned  as  an  en- 
thusiast, which  gave  me  no  prepossession  in  his  favour. 

I  am  glad  to  find  by  Mr.  Clap's  letter,  and  the 
.specimens  of  literature  enclosed  in  his  packet,  that 
learning  continues  to  make  a  progress  in  Yale  College; 
and  hope  that  virtue  and  Christian  charity  may  keep 
pace  with  it. 

The  letters  which  you  and  Mr.  Clap  say  you  had 
written  in  answer  to  my  last,  never  came  to  my  hands. 
I  am  glad  to  hear,  by  Mr.  Hall,  of  the  good  health  and 
condition  of  yourself  and  family.  I  pray  God  to  bless 
you  and  yours,  and  prosper  your  good  endeavours. 

I  am,  Rev.  Sir, 
Your  faithful  friend  and  humble  servant, 

G.  CLOYNE. 


Letters  from  Bishop  Sherlock  to  Dr.  Johnson. 

London,  Sept.  19,  1750. 
Sir, 

As  I  have  written  to  the  commissaries  of  the  late 
Bishop,  to  give  them  an  account  how  matters  stand 
here  with  respect  to  the  ecclesiastical  state  of  the 
churches  abroad,  I  have  ordered  you  a  copy,  and  shall 
be  obliged  to  you  for  any  information  you  can  give  me. 
I  am  your  affectionate  brother  and  servant, 

THO.  LONDON. 


APPENDIX.  165 

(Copy.} 
Rev.  Sir, 

I  have  no  excuse  to  make  for  the  silence  I  have  ob- 
served towards  you  and  the  other  commissaries  in  the 
plantations,  but  only  this,  that  I  waited  in  hopes  of 
giving  you  an  account  of  a  settlement  of  ecclesiastical 
affairs  for  the  colonies,  in  some  shape  or  other.  I  have 
been  far  from  neglecting  the  affairs  of  your  churches, 
and  have  been  soliciting  the  establishment  of  one  or 
two  bishops  to  reside  in  proper  parts  of  the  plantations, 
and  to  have  the  conduct  and  direction  of  the  whole.  I 
am  sensible  for  myself  that  I  am  capable  of  doing  but 
very  little  service  to  those  distant  churches,  and  I  am 
persuaded  that  no  bishop  residing  in  England  ought  to 
have,  or  willingly  to  undertake,  this  province.  As  soon 
as  I  came  to  the  see  of  London,  I  presented  a  memorial 
to  the  king  upon  this  subject;  which  was  referred  to 
his  principal  officers  of  state  to  be  considered.  But  so 
many  difficulties  were  started,  that  no  report  was  made 
to  his  majesty.  After  this  I  presented  a  petition  to  the 
king  in  council  of  like  purport.  His  majesty's  journey 
to  Hanover  left  no  room  to  take  a  resolution  upon  an 
affair  that  deserves  to  be  maturely  weighed.  This  lies 
before  the  king  in  council,  and  will,  I  hope,  be  called 
for  when  his  majesty  returns  to  England.  This  is  a 
short  state  of  the  case. 

You  will  see  by  this  account  that  I  am  not  yet  able 
to  say  any  thing  as  to  the  effect  of  these  applications: 
but  as  in  all  events  a  new  patent  must  be  granted, 
either  to  the  Bishop  of  London,  or  to  a  new  bishop,  I 
desire  to  be  informed  by  you  how  the  jurisdiction  has 
been  carried  on  during  the  time  that  the  late  Bishop  of 


166 


APPENDIX. 


London  acted  under  a  patent  from  the  crown.  I  know 
the  jurisdiction  so  granted  extends  only  to  the  clergy  ; 
but  with  respect  to  this  branch  there  seems  to  me  to  be 
some  defects  in  the  patent.  But  I  will  not  point  them 
out  to  forestall  your  judgment,  but  shall  be  much 
obliged  to  you  for  any  observation  upon  this  head  which 
your  experience  has  furnished  you  with ;  which  I  shall 
endeavour  to  make  use  of  for  the  service  of  the  churches 
abroad. 

I  am,  Sir,  yours,  &c. 


Dr.  Johnson's  Answer  to  the  preceding. 

Stratford,  March  26,  1751. 
May  it  please  your  Lordship, 

The  bearer  hereof  is  Mr.  T.  B.  Chandler,  whom  a 
number  of  us  jointly  recommended  to  your  lordship 
last  fall  to  be  admitted  to  holy  orders,  and  he  has  now 
leave  from  the  society  to  go  for  that  purpose  ;  concern- 
ing whom  I  need  add  nothing  to  what  is  contained  in 
our  joint  testimonial,  to  which  therefore  I  refer  your 
lordship,  and  doubt  not  but  he  will  prove  a  very  worthy 
missionary,  and  continue  to  deserve  well  that  recom- 
mendation. 

On  this  occasion  I  write  my  most  thankful  acknow- 
ledgment of  your  lordship's  kind  letter  of  September 
19th  last  (which  came  not  to  my  hands  till  this  very 
month),  and  would  humbly  inform  your  lordship  how 
extremely  thankful  we  all  are  for  the  tender  care  you 
express  for  our  churches,  and  the  solicitous  endeavours 


MTKNPIX.  167 

you  are  using  to  promote  bishops  for  these  remote  parts. 
We  earnestly  pray  God  that  your  endeavours  may  be 
attended  with  the  desired  success  :  and  I  herewitli  send 
your  lordship  a  copy  of  our  joint  answer  to  a  paper  of 
proposals  which  has  been  sent  into  these  parts  (signed 
by  as  many  as  could  have  opportunity),  if  peradventure 
it  may  be  of  some  use,  though  it  may  probably  be  too 
late. 

As  to  what  your  lordship  desires  in  your  letter  to  the 
late  bishop's  commissaries,  I  must  humbly  beg  to  be 
excused,  and  to  refer  your  lordship  to  the  answers  they 
will  give  to  it,  because  I  have  no  copy  of  his  late  lord- 
ship's patent,  nor  ever  had  more  than  a  very  transient 
sight  of  it,  and  by  reason  of  my  distance  and  extensive 
care  here,  I  have  not  for  many  years  been  at  any  con- 
vention of  the  clergy,  nor  was  there  ever  any  juridical 
act  carried  on  when  I  was  present,  besides  inquiries 
into  the  condition  of  our  parishes  ;  so  that  I  am  unable 
to  give  any  light  that  can  be  of  any  use  to  your  lord- 
ship on  this  subject.  I  could  wish  the  bishop  or  com- 
missaries might  be  empowered  or  directed  to  require 
an  annual  account  from  the  people  of  their  punctual 
performing  their  part  towards  the  support  of  their 
ministers,  and  that  some  provision  could  be  made  of  a 
moderate  discipline,  purely  spiritual,  in  pursuance  of 
the  rubric  to  suspend  open  and  notorious  evil  livers 
from  the  holy  sacrament.  But  I  doubt  not  but  your 
lordship  will  do  the  utmost  you  can  for  us,  if  at  all  any 
thing  can  be  done.  There  are  two  more  candidates  to 
whom  we  gave  our  testimonials,  who  I  believe  will 
shortly  embark  ;  by  whom,  if  any  thing  occurs  to  me 


168  APPENDIX. 

that  can  be  of  any  use,  I  shall  write  further  to  your 
lordship.     In  the  mean  time  I  remain,  my  Lord, 

Your  lordship's  most  dutiful, 
and  most  obedient  son,  and  humble  servant, 

SAMUEL  JOHNSON. 
To  my  Lord  of  London. 


Proposals,  relating  to  American  Bishops  y  sent  to  England 
in  1750. 

As  the  chief  obstruction  to  the  settling  bishops  in 
America  arises  from  an  apprehension  here  that  the 
several  colonies  abroad  would  be  unwilling  to  have 
bishops  among  them,  from  a  jealousy  that  introducing 
ecclesiastical  power  among  them  may  interfere  with 
some  rights  which,  by  custom,  or  by  acts  of  their 
respective  assemblies,  are  now  vested  in  other  hands; 
it  is  become  necessary,  in  order  to  know  their  senti- 
ments, to  inform  them  rightly  in  this  case. 

Their  objections  (if  they  have  any)  must  be,  as  is 
supposed,  upon  one  or  all  the  following  accounts. 

1.  With  respect  to  the  coercive  power  such  bishops 
may  exercise  over  the  people  in  causes  ecclesiastical. 

2.  With  respect  to  the  inteicst  or  authority  of  the 
governors  there. 

3.  With  respect  to  the  burthen  that  may  be  brought 
upon  the  people,  of  supporting  and  maintaining  bishops 
there. 

4.  With  respect  to  such  of  the  colonies  where  the 


APPENDIX.  IfiP 

government  is  in  the  hands  of  the  Independents,  or 
other  dissenters,  whose  principles  are  inconsistent  with 
episcopal  government. 

As  these  objections  are  all  founded  upon  a  misap- 
prehension of  the  case,  it  may  be  proper  to  have  it 
understood. 

1st.  That  no  coercive  power  is  desired  over  the  laity 
in  any  case  ;  but  only  a  power  to  regulate  the  behaviour 
of  the  clergy  who  are  in  episcopal  orders,  and  to  cor- 
rect and  punish  them  according  to  the  law  of  the 
Church  of  England,  in  case  of  misbehaviour  or  neglect 
of  duty  ;  with  such  power  as  the  commissaries  abroad 
have  exercised. 

2dly.  That  nothing  is  desired  for  such  bishops  that 
may  in  the  least  interfere  with  the  dignity,  or  autho- 
rity, or  interest  of  governor,  or  any  other  officer  of 
state.  Probate  of  wills,  licence  for  marriage,  &c.  to  be 
left  in  the  hands  where  they  are,  and  no  share  of  the 
temporal  government  is  desired  for  the  bishops. 

3dly.  The  maintenance  of  such  bishops  not  to  be  at 
the  charge  of  the  colonies. 

4thly.  No  bishops  are  intended  to  be  settled  in 
places  were  the  government  is  in  the  hands  of  dissen- 
ters, as  in  New  England,  &c.  but  authority  to  be  given 
only  to  ordain  clergy  for  such  Church  of  England  con- 
gregations as  are  among  them,  and  to  inspect  into  the 
manners  and  behaviour  of  the  same  clergy,  and  to  con- 
firm the  members  thereof. 

It  is  proposed  to  the  society  to  recommend  to  such 
of  their  members  as  have  correspondence  abroad,  to 
acquaint  their  friends  with  these  particulars,  in  order 
to  know  the  sense  of  the  people  there,  when  duly  in- 


170 


APPENDIX. 


formed  of  the  case ;  and  to  know  what  other  objections 
they  may  have  to  the  said  proposal. 

"We,  the  subscribers,  having  read  the  foregoing  ob- 
jections, are  not  able  to  recollect  any  others  made  by 
the  dissenters  here  against  resident  bishops  in  America, 
but  what  are  herein  contained ;  and  notwithstand- 
ing these  objections,  we  are  heartily  desirous  that 
bishops  should  be  provided  for  the  plantations,  and  are 
fully  persuaded  that  our  several  congregations,  and  all 
other  congregations  of  the  Church  of  England  in  New 
England,  are  earnestly  desirous  of  the  same. 

TIMOTHY  CUTLER, 
EBENEZER  MILLER, 
HENRY  CANER, 
CHARLES  BROCKWELL, 
WILLIAM  HOOPER 
Boston,  (N.  E.)  Nov.  28,  1750. 


Letters  from  Bishop  Sherlock  to  Dr.  Johnson. 

London,  April  21,  1752. 
Rev.  Sir, 

I  am  very  much  obliged  to  you  for  your  letters  of  the 
26th  of  March,  and  25th  of  September  1751.  I  have, 
for  above  a  quarter  of  a  year,  been  under  a  fit  of  the 
gout,  which  has  disabled  me  from  attending  to  busi- 
ness ;  otherwise  you  should  have  heard  sooner  from  me. 

The  observations  you  communicated  to  me,  with 
relation  to  the  settlement  of  Episcopacy  amongst  you, 
are  very  just,  and  worthy  of  consideration  ;  but  I  am 


APPENDIX.  171 

afraid  that  others,  who  have  more  power  and  influence, 
do  not  see  the  thing  in  the  light  that  we  do,  and  I  have 
but  little  hopes  of  succeeding  at  present. 

I  think  myself  at  present  in  a  very  bad  situation  ; 
bishop  of  a  vast  country,  without  power,  or  influence, 
or  any  means  of  promoting  true  religion  :  sequestered 
from  the  people  over  whom  I  have  the  care,  and  must 
never  hope  to  see.  I  should  be  tempted  to  throw  off 
all  this  care  quite,  were  it  not  for  the  sake  of  preserv- 
ing even  the  appearance  of  an  Episcopal  Church  in  the 
plantations. 

Your  letter  of  the  20th  of  October  last,  sent  by 
Messrs.  Camp  and  Colton,  came  but  lately  to  hand. 
I  thank  you  for  it,  and  particularly  for  giving  me  some 
light  into  the  quarrel  between  Mr.  Graves  and  Mr. 
Colton.  Mr.  Graves  wrote  to  me  a  very  bad  character 
of  him,  but  could  not  conceal  his  passion  and  resent- 
ment, charging  him  with  very  heinous  crimes.  His 
letter  gave  me  great  offence,  as  he  will  find  when  he 
receives  my  answer. 

I  am,  Sir, 
Your  affectionate  brother  and  humble  servant, 

THO.  LONDON. 


Fulham,  Oct.  20,  1754-. 
Rev.  Sir, 

In  consideration  of  Mr.  Palmer's  circumstances,  and 
the  strong  recommendation  he  brought  from  you  and 
other  worthy  clergymen,  I  appointed  a  special  ordina- 
tion, and  not  being  able  myself  to  ordain,  the  Bishop 
of  Bangor,  at  my  request,  was  so  good  as  to  come 


172  APPENDIX. 

hither  and  ordain  him;  but  I   refer  myself  to  him  to 
give  you  an  account  of  his  reception  here. 

Sir,  I  do  heartily  congratulate  the  Church  abroad, 
upon  the  prospect  of  the  settlement  of  a  College  at  New 
York  under  the  circumstances  and  conditions  you  specify. 
There  is  nothing  that  has  come  from  your  parts  that  has 
given  me  so  much  satisfaction  ;  and  every  friend  of  the 
Church  of  England  will  be  very  much  obliged  to  you 
for  undertaking  the  care  of  it ;  for  upon  the  prudence 
and  fidelity  of  those  who  have  the  first  formation,  the 
future  success  of  this  undertaking  will  very  much  de- 
pend. I  remember  some  time  ago,  that  I  heard  of  this 
scheme,  but  then  it  was  insisted,  that  the  dissenters 
should  have  the  direction  entirely,  and  that  the  service 
of  the  College  should  be  in  their  way.  One  reason 
offered  in  behalf  of  such  settlement  was,  that  it  would 
be  very  convenient  for  the  education  of  the  young 
gentlemen  of  the  islands ;  which,  I  own,  was  far  from 
being  an  argument  with  me ;  for  as  the  inhabitants  of 
the  islands  are  almost  generally  of  the  Church  of 
England,  I  thought  the  putting  the  young  people  un- 
der the  conduct  of  the  dissenters,  and  obliging  them  to 
their  manner  of  worship,  might,  in  time,  be  attended 
with  great  inconveniences ;  but  if  the  College  can  be 
settled  upon  the  terms  you  mentioned,  it  will  go  a  great 
way  in  showing  that  the  zeal  for  establishing  the 
Church  of  England  is  not  so  inconsiderable  in  New 
England  as  it  has  sometimes  been  industriously  re- 
presented. 

I  pray  God  grant  you  health  and  strength  to  ac- 
complish this  undertaking,  to  whose  protection  I 
recommend  you,  and  the  good  work. 


APPENDIX.  173 

If  I  live  to  hear  that  you  are  settled  in  this  new 
office,  I  shall  pay  great  regard  to  your  recommendation 
of  Mr.  Beach. 

I  am,  Sir, 

Your  affectionate  brother  and  very  humble  servant, 

THO.  LONDON. 


Letters  to  Dr.  Johnson  from  Bishop  Seeker. 

St.  Paul's  Deanry,  London,  Feb.  27,  1752. 
Good  Dr.  Johnson, 

I  am  very  sorry  that  I  have  neither  performed  your 
desire  of  procuring  a  degree  for  Mr.  Chandler,  nor  an- 
swered your  letter  sooner.  But  I  hope  you  will  see 
reason  to  excuse  me.  On  his  first  application  to  me, 
I  engaged  the  Bishop  of  Norwich  to  ordain  him,  with 
the  Bishop  of  London's  approbation ;  for  I  was  going 
myself  into  Oxfordshire.  There  I  mentioned  your  re- 
quest on  his  behalf  to  several  heads  of  houses,  who 
promised  their  assistance,  but  wished  he  had  brought 
a  certificate  of  the  degree  which  he  received  abroad. 
About  the  same  time  he  wrote  to  me,  to  desire  that  I 
would  ordain  him  ;  because  he  believed  the  Bishop  of 
Norwich  would  be  too  much  engaged  with  the  Prince 
of  Wales.  I  returned  him  answer,  that  the  Bishop  had 
promised  me  to  do  it :  and  that  I  was  for  some  time 
otherwise  employed  in  my  diocese ;  taking  it  for  granted, 
that  he  would  afterwards  come  to  Oxford,  as  he  had 
told  me  he  intended.  But  I  heard  nothing  more  of  him, 
till,  on  my  return  to  town,  Dr.  Bearcroft  told  me  that 


174  APPENDIX. 

he  had  been  ordained  by  the  Bishop  of  Norwich,  and 
was  gone  back.  Still  I  apprehend  the  degree  may  be 
obtained,  on  transmitting  a  certificate  of  that  which 
was  conferred  on  him  in  New  England,  and  a  recom- 
mendatory letter  from  one  or  more  of  the  Episcopal 
Clergy  ;  which  may  be  directed  either  to  me,  or  to  the 
Bishop  of  Bristol,  who  is  likewise  Dean  of  Christ 
Church. 

You  receive,  I  doubt  not,  constant  accounts  from  Dr. 
Bearcroft  and  others,  concerning  the  state  of  the  So- 
ciety's affairs  here.  Our  fund  is  reduced  at  present 
very  low  :  and  the  last  year's  benefactions  have  been 
very  small.  God  incline  the  hearts  of  men  to  liberality 
at  the  approaching  general  collection.  The  king  hath 
given  five  hundred  pounds.  I  wish  it  had  been  more. 
But  I  know  not  whether  his  predecessors  have  given 
any  thing.  I  am  reprinting,  on  this  occasion,  my  ser- 
mon before  the  society,  in  hopes  it  may  do  some  good  ; 
and  shall  give  a  copy  to  each  minister  of  a  parish  in 
my  diocese.  It  will  be  of  use  to  us  to  receive,  as  early 
as  possible,  both  accounts  and  copies  of  whatever  is 
printed  in  your  parts,  relating  to  the  concerns  of  the 
Society.  The  dissenters  here  have  lately  had  some 
things  of  this  kind  before  us :  and  I  think  we  have  had 
them  only  through  their  hands.  Concerning  the  im- 
portant scheme  of  establishing  bishops  abroad,  I  can, 
at  present,  give  no  encouraging  prospect.  We  must 
endeavour  again  when  we  see  opportunity ;  and  pray 
always,  that  He  who  hath  put  the  times  and  seasons  in 
his  own  power,  would,  in  the  time  that  he  sees  proper, 
revive  that,  and  every  part  of  his  work  amongst  us  : 
for  indeed  religion  continues  to  decay  most  lamentably. 


A  i»  r  i:  N  i)  i  x .  1 75 

But  we  know,  that  all  things  work  together  for  good  ; 
and  that,  the  kingdoms  of  this  world  shall  become  the 
kingdoms  of  our  Lord  and  his  Christ. 

I  am,  with  great  esteem  and  regard,  Sir, 
Your  loving  brother  and  humble  servant, 

THO.  OXFORD. 


DeanryofSt.PauVs,  March  19,  1754. 
Good  Dr.  Johnson, 

I  should  have  returned  you  my  hearty  thanks  before 
now,  if  extraordinary  business  had  not  put  it  partly  out 
of  my  power  and  partly  out  of  my  thoughts,  for  your 
favours  by  Mr.  Smith.    He  is,  indeed,  a  very  ingenious 
and  able,  and  seems  a  very  well-disposed  young  man. 
And  if  he  had  pursued  his  intention  of  residing  awhile 
at  Oxford,  I  should  have  hoped  for  more  of  his  com- 
pany and  acquaintance.     Nor  would  he,  I  think,  have 
failed  to  see  more  fully,  what  I  flatter  myself  he  is  con- 
vinced of  without  it,  that  our  Universities  do  not  de- 
serve the  sentence  which  is  passed  on  them  by  the 
author  whom  he  cites,  and  whose  words  he  adopts  in 
p.  84-  of  his  General  Idea  of  the  College  of  Mirania. 
He  assures  me  that  they  are  effaced  in  almost  all  the 
copies.     I  wish  they  had  not  been  printed,  or  that  the 
leaf  had  been  cancelled.    But  the  many  valuable  things 
which  there  are  in  that  performance,  and  in  the  papers 
which  he  published  at  New  York,  will   atone  for  this 
blemish  with  all  candid  persons.     And  there  seems  a 
fair  prospect  of  his  doing  great  service  in  the  place 


176  APPENDIX. 

where  he  is  going  to  settle.  I  am  particularly  obliged 
to  you  lor  sending  me  your  book  :  of  which  I  made  a 
very  acceptable  present  to  the  late  excellent  Bishop 
of  Cloyne's  son,  a  most  serious,  and  sensible,  and 
prudent  young  man,  whom  his  father  placed  at  Christ 
Church,  and  who,  with  his  mother  and  sister,  spent 
the  last  summer  with  me  in  Oxfordshire.  I  have  now 
lately  received  from  Mr.  Smith  another  copy  of  it, 
printed  here  ;  and  have  read  several  parts  of  it,  and  all 
with  much  pleasure.  You  have  taken  very  proper  care 
to  keep  those,  who  do  not  enter  into  all  the  philosophy 
of  the  good  and  great  man  from  being  shocked  at  it, 
and  you  have  explained  and  recommended  just  reason- 
ing, virtue,  and  religion,  so  as  not  only  to  make  them 
well  understood,  but  ardently  loved.  Would  God  there 
were  any  present  hopes  of  executing  what  the  conclud- 
ing piece  unanswerably  proves  to  be  harmless,  useful, 
and  requisite.  But  we  have  done  all  we  can  here  in 
vain,  and  must  wait  for  more  favourable  times  ;  which 
I  think  it  will  contribute  not  a  little  to  bring  on,  if  the 
Ministers  of  our  Church  in  America,  by  friendly  con- 
verse with  the  principal  dissenters,  can  satisfy  them, 
that  nothing  more  is  intended  or  desired,  than  that  our 
Church  may  enjoy  the  full  benefit  of  its  own  institu- 
tions, as  all  others  do.  For  so  long  as  they  are  uneasy, 
and  remonstrate,  regard  will  be  paid  to  them  and  their 
friends  here  by  our  Ministers  of  State.  And  yet  it  will 
be  a  hard  matter  for  you  to  prevent  their  being  uneasy, 
while  they  find  you  gaining  ground  upon  them.  That 
so  much  of  the  money  of  the  Society  was  employed  in 
supporting  Episcopal  congregations  amongst  them, 
\v.is  industriously  mndi>  an  argumpnt  against  the  lair 


APPENDIX.  J77 

collection.  And  though,  God  be  thanked,  the  collec- 
tion hath  notwithstanding  proved  a  very  good  one, 
yet  unless  we  be  cautious  on  that  head,  we  shall  have 
farther  clamour :  and  one  knows  not  what  the  effect  of 
it  may  be.  Our  friends  in  America  will  furnish  us,  I 
hope,  from  time  to  time,  with  all  such  facts,  books, 
observations,  and  reasonings,  as  may  enable  us  the 
better  to  defend  our  common  cause. 

I  am,  with  great  regard  and  esteem,  Sir, 
Your  loving  brother  and  humble  servant, 

THO.  OXFORD. 


[The  copy  of  a  long  Letter  of  September  27, 1758,  written 
by  Archbishop  Seeker,  on  his  first  preferment  to  the  See 
of  Canterbury ,  is  unfortunately  lost.} 


Lambeth,  July  19,  1*759. 
Good  Dr.  Johnson, 

I  thank  you  heartily  for  your  two  letters  of  March 
20th,  and  April  15th.  I  have  received  much  useful  in- 
formation from  both  of  them,  especially  from  the  former 
and  longer,  of  which  I  hope  to  have  the  sequel  in  a 
little  time.  On  a  consultation  amongst  the  Bishops, 
it  was  agreed,  that  though  establishing  a  misson  at 
Cambridge  might  probably  furnish  a  handle  for  more 
than  ordinary  clamour,  yet  the  good  to  be  expected 
there  from  the  temper,  and  prudence,  and  abilities  of 
Mr.  Apthorp,  was  likely  to  overbalance  that  incon- 


178  APPENDIX. 


venience  considerably  :  and  that  it  would  be  best  to 
propose  the  matter  in  the  Society,  without  taking  notice 
of  its  being  liable  to  any  peculiar  objections :  which 
w  as  done  accordingly,  and  the  resolution  taken  una- 
nimously. Your  views  in  relation  to  a  successor  are 
very  worthy  of  you :  but  I  hope  many  years  will  pass 
before  there  be  occasion  to  deliberate  on  that  head. 
Pray,  will  it  not  be  proper  that  I  should  send  over  a 
proxy,  as  a  Governor  of  the  College  ?  and  will  you  per- 
mit me  to  nominate  you? 

How  the  matter  concerning  Mr.  Beach  hath  been 
accommodated,  I  have  not  heard,  but  shall  be  glad  to 
hear. 

Nor  have  I  ever  seen  the  Independent  Reflector,  or  the 
Watch  Tower.  Nor  will  it  be  of  use  to  have  every 
number  of  a  periodical  paper  transmitted,  but  only 
such  as  relate  to  the  concerns  of  the  Church  and  the 
Society.  I  have  an  Ordination  sermon,  published  by 
Mr.  Hobart  in  1747,  and  his  second  address,  but  not 
the  first.  Just  in  like  manner  I  had  the  continuation 
of  Mr.  Beach's  Vindication,  but  not  the  Vindication 
itself,  till  you  lately  sent  it  me ;  for  which  I  am  much 
obliged  to  you.  Dr.  Bearcroft  hath  shown  me  Mr. 
Barclay's  Remarks,  which  I  like  very  well,  so  far  as 
they  go.  But  I  hope  a  fuller  answer  to  the  several  re- 
flections cast  upon  the  Society  may  be  drawn  up,  of 
which  his  Remarks  will  make  an  useful  part.  Your 
letter  of  last  March  contains  likewise  very  proper 
materials.  I  was  a  very  young  Bishop  in  1735,  and 
almost  my  whole  time  was  taken  up  in  the  care  of  St. 
James's  Parish  ;  by  which  means  it  happened,  that  I 
either  did  not  know  any  thing  ****** 


APPKNI)I\ 


[The  date  of  the  Letter  of  which  the  following  is  a  Frag- 
ment is  not  known.'] 


a  Mr.  Graham,  Fellow  of  Queen's  College,  in  Oxford, 
who  was  reader  of  philosophy  and  mathematics  in  the 
College  at  Williamsburg,  and  reckoned  a  man  of  good 
character ;  but  I  can  learn  nothing  more  of  him,  not 
even  whether  he  is  in  America  or  in  England.  One  Mr. 
Cooper,  a  fellow  also  of  Queen's  College,  hath  been  re- 
commended to  me  as  a  grave  and  good  man,  and  very 
well  affected  to  the  government ;  well  qualified  for  the 
inferior  tutor's  place,  but  not  inclined  to  accept  it ;  not 
unskilled  in  Hebrew,  and  willing  to  take  the  Vice- 
President's  office  ;  but  not  of  age  for  Priest's  orders 
till  next  February.  I  am  afraid,  though  I  have  not 
seen  him,  that  he  should  appear  too  young ;  but  have 
given  no  decisive  answer.  The  only  remaining  person, 
hitherto  mentioned  to  me,  though  I  have  not  inquired 
diligently,  is  one  Mr.  Wall,  Fellow  of  Christ  College,  a 
studious  man,  and  very  good  mathematician  :  a  good 
preacher  also  ;  but  his  voice  is  not  strong,  though  clear: 
his  age,  I  believe,  towards  thirty  :  but  he  understands 
little  or  nothing  of  the  Hebrew :  and  as  he  would  not 
accept  the  inferior  place,  so,  upon  the  whole,  he  thinks 
himself  unfit  for  the  superior,  though  the  head  of  his 
College  thinks  otherwise.  He  wanted  to  know,  as 
others  may,  what  is  the  particular  business  of  the 
President  and  of  the  Vice-President ;  whether  the  man- 
ner of  living  be  collegiate  at  a  common  table,  and 

N  2 


180  APPENDIX. 

whether  the  country  be  a  very  dear  one.  I  am  unable 
to  answer  these  questions.  It  grieves  me  that  you 
should  be  without  help  so  long.  If  any  other  person 
can  procure  it  for  you,  I  shall  be  heartily  glad.  But 
I  think  you  had  better  wait  than  have  a  wrong  person 
sent  you  from  hence.  Could  not  you  get  some  tem- 
porary assistance  in  your  neighbourhood  I 

I  come  now  to  your  letter  of  July  13th,  1760,  and  as- 
sure you  that  I  shall  always  be  pleased  with  your  noti- 
fying and  proposing  to  me  whatever  you  apprehend  to 
be  material ;  because  I  know  it  will  always  be  done  with 
good  intention,  and  almost  always  furnish  me  with  useful 
notices  ;  and  indeed  will  be  of  no  small  use,  even  when 
you  may  happen  to  judge  amiss,  as  it  will  give  me 
an  opportunity  of  setting  you  right.  In  my  opinion, 
the  paper  intended  for  the  London  Magazine,  and  the 
letters  for  Lord  Halifax  and  Mr.  Pitt,  are  of  the  latter 
sort.  The  things  said  in  them  are,  in  the  main,  right, 
so  far  as  they  may  be  practicable ;  but  publishing 
them  to  the  world  beforehand,  instead  of  waiting  till 
the  time  comes,  and  then  applying  privately  to  the 
persons  whose  advice  the  king  will  take  about  them,  is 
likely  to  raise  opposition,  and  prevent  success.  Pub- 
lishing them,  indeed,  in  a  Magazine,  may  raise  no  great 
alarm ;  but  then  it  will  be  apt  to  produce  contempt  : 
for  those  monthly  collections  are  far  from  being  in  high 
esteem.  And  as  soon  as  either  of  those  great  me 
should  see  that  the  queries  offered  to  him  were  design 
to  be  inserted  in  any  of  them,  he  would  be  strongly 
tempted  to  throw  them  aside,  without  looking  further 
into  them,  even  were  he  otherwise  disposed  to  read 
them  over :  which  men  of  business  seldom  are,  when 


: 


APPENDIX.  181 

they  receive  papers  from  unknown  hands,  few  of  them 
in  proportion  deserving  it.  You  will  pardon  the  frank- 
ness with  which  I  tell  you  my  thoughts.  Whatever 
good  use  I  can  make  of  your  notions,  I  will.  But  the 
use  which  you  propose  is  not  agreeable  to  my  judgment. 

The  dissenters  here,  and  too  many  who  continue  in 
the  Church,  have  been  running,  for  a  considerable 
number  of  years,  into  what  you  call  Taylorism.  I  am 
glad  that  the  Clergy  in  your  parts  are  orthodox.  Mr. 
Maclaneghan  gives  them  a  very  different  character. 
I  hope  they  will  cut  off  all  occasion  from  them  who 
desire  occasion  against  them,  by  preaching  faithfully 
and  frequently  the  distinguishing  doctrines  of  the 
Gospel  ;  which  we  in  this  nation  have  neglected  too 
much,  and  dwelt  disproportionately  on  morality  and 
natural  religion  ;  whence  the  Methodists  hare  taken 
advantage  to  decry  us,  and  gain  followers. 

I  will  take  notice  of  what  you  say  in  this  letter,  as 
well  as  a  former,  concerning  missions  and  missionaries, 
and  write  further  to  you,  as  soon  as  I  can  do  it  to  any 
purpose. 

Your  observations  concerning  a  certain  colony  shall 
not  be  mentioned  to  your  detriment.  I  have  a  paper 
on  the  same  subject,  in  a  great  measure,  without  date, 
and  not  of  your  hand-writing,  but  indorsed  by  Arch- 
bishop Herring,  as  coming  from  you.  God  grant  this 
confusion  may  be  reduced  into  order,  and  that,  in  the 
mean  time,  some  good  may  come  out  of  the  evil. 

I  have  spoken  concerning  a  new  Lieutenant-Governor, 
in  the  manner  which  you  desired,  to  the  Duke  of  New- 
castle and  Mr.  Pitt,  and  also  to  Lord  Halifax,  in  whom 
the  choice  is.  They  all  admit  the  request  to  be  a  very 


182 


APPENDIX. 


reasonable  and  important  one ;  and  promise  that  care 
shall  be  taken  about  it.  The  last  of  them  is  very  earn- 
est for  Bishops  in  America.  I  hope  we  may  have  a 
chance  to  succeed  in  that  great  point,  when  it  shall 
please  God  to  bless  us  with  a  peace. 

We  have  lost  our  good  old  king,  a  true  well-wisher 
to  his  people,  and  a  man  of  many  private  virtues.  His 
successor  is  a  regular,  and  worthy,  and  pious  young 
man ;  and  hath  declared  himself,  I  am  satisfied  very 
sincerely,  to  have  the  interest  of  religion  at  heart.  God 
keep  him  in  the  same  mind,  and  bless  his  endeavours. 
He  continues  the  same  ministry  which  his  grandfather 
had,  with  as  few  changes  as  possible  :  and  I  know  not 
whether  this  nation  was  ever  so  much  at  unity  in  itself 
as  it  is  at  present. 

Since  I  have  written  thus  far,  I  have  seen  Mr.  Cooper, 
who  appears  well ;  but  tells  me,  that  he  only  made  a  short 
attempt  to  learn  Hebrew,  and  laid  it  aside.  Therefore 
I  dare  not  send  him  without  especial  direction. 

God  bless  you,  good  Dr.  Johnson,  and  all  your 
brethren,  and  his  whole  Church  in  your  parts.  I  am, 
with  regard  and  esteem,  your  loving  brother, 

THO.CANT. 


Lambeth,  Jan.  20, 1761. 
Good  Dr.  Johnson, 

The  University  of  Oxford  have  unanimously  given 
Mr.  Barclay,  at  my  request,  the  degree  of  a  Doctor  in 
Divinity,  by  a  diploma,  which  is  in  my  hands,  but 
shall  be  sent  to  the  Doctor  in  such  manner  as  he 


API'KNDIX.  183 

shall  direct.  Be  pleased  in  the  mean  time  to  con- 
gratulate him  from  me  on  the  justice  done  in  this  re- 
spect to  his  merit. 

My  further  inquiries  for  tutors  in  your  college,  though 
diligent,  continue  to  be  unsuccessful.  Nor  do  we  find 
persons  to  supply  our  vacant  missions,  which  are  now 
seven  or  eight.  Pray  is  Mr.  Gibbs,  of  Simsbury,  in  a 
condition  to  do  any  duty  properly,  and  what?  And  is 
there  any  hope  that  Mr.  Lyons,  of  Brookhaven,  if  re- 
moved with  an  admonition,  would  mend  ?  I  hope  you 
will  send  us  over  good  young  men  for  missionaries  when 
you  can.  We  must  supply  the  old  parishes  before  we 
attempt  erecting  new  ones. 

The  king  hath  had  no  opportunity  as  yet  of  showing 
what  his  dispositions  are  towards  the  American 
Churches,  excepting  that  in  general  all  his  dispositions 
are  good.  But  whom  he  will  consult  particularly  on 
this  head  hath  not  hitherto  appeared.  I  presume  the 
Episcopal  Clergy  will  transmit  addresses  to  him,  as 
their  predecessors,  when  they  were  much  fewer,  did  to 
the  late  king.  This  may  lead  him  to  inquire  concern- 
ing them,  and  express  himself  in  relation  to  them.  If 
any  such  addresses  come  to  me,  I  will  take  the  best 
care  of  them  that  I  can. 

You  shall  hear  further,  as  occasion  may  require,  from 
your  loving  brother, 

THO.  CANT. 


184  APPENDIX. 

Lambeth,  December  10,  1761. 
Good  Dr.  Johnson, 

I  have  been  a  very  bad  correspondent,  and  scarcely 
dare  promise  to  amend,  though  I  propose  it,  God 
willing.  Besides  much  extraordinary  business  arising 
from  the  king's  accession,  marriage,  and  coronation, 
and  two  visitations  of  distant  parts  under  my  j  urisdiction, 
I  have  had  a  severe  fit  of  the  stone,  and  am  now  under 
a  second  fit  of  the  gout  within  these  six  months ;  and 
must  not  hope,  in  my  sixty-ninth  year,  that  these  com- 
plaints will  grow  lighter,  but  expect  to  be  overwhelmed 
by  additional  ones.  However,  I  have  forced  myself  to 
take  up  my  pen,  to  make  my  excuse  to  you  as  well  as 
I  can. 

You  judged  rightly  from  my  letter  of  January  20, 
that  I  had  written  a  former,  which  had  not  come  to 
your  hands.  It  was  written  November  4,  1760.  I 
should  have  sent  a  duplicate  of  it  soon  after.  But  all 
that  I  can  do  now  is  to  send  you  a  copy,  and  another 
proxy,  that  which  accompanied  it  being,  I  presume, 
lost  with  it. 

I  thank  you  for  your  draught  of  an  address  for 
Bishops  on  a  peace.  Would  to  God  both  events  were 
nearer  than  they  seem  to  be  at  present.  The  right 
time  to  try  is  certainly  when  a  peace  is  made,  if  cir- 
cumstances afford  any  hope  of  success.  But  this  is 
a  matter  of  which  you  in  America  cannot  judge;  and 
therefore  I  beg  you  will  attempt  nothing  without  the 
advice  of  the  Society,  or  of  the  Bishops.  The  address 
of  the  Clergy  in  and  near  Boston  to  the  king  upon  his 
accession,  which  was  sent  to  the  late  Bishop  of  London 


APPENDIX.  185 

to  be  presented,  never  was  presented,  because  he 
thought  it  mentioned  Bishops  prematurely.  When  I 
presented  that  which  came  from  New  York,  signed  by 
you,  I  told  the  king  that  there  had  been  one  from  New 
England  transmitted  to  Bishop  Sherlock  (who  was 
dead  when  I  spoke  to  his  majesty),  but  that  what  he 
had  done  with  it,  I  knew  not.  I  gave  him  that  copy  of 
the  college  address  which  was  under  the  common  seal. 

I  have  received  a  very  obliging  letter  from  the 
Clergy  assembled  at  Philadelphia,  May  29,  1761,  on 
occasion  of  my  letter  to  Mr.  Maclaneghan,  with  a  re- 
quest that  I  would  give  leave  for  its  being  printed. 
But  as  I  am  assured  that  his  party  is  declining,  I 
thought  it  unnecessary. 

Many  thanks  to  you  for  the  tracts  which  you  have 
written  and  sent  me.  I  have  read  them  with  much 
pleasure,  as  I  hope  many  have  done. 

Before  I  received  your  letter,  informing  me  that  Mr. 
Viets,  a  person,  I  think,  unknown  to  me,  desired  he 
might  come  and  be  ordained  to  assist  Mr.  Gibbs,  the 
Society  had  ordered  that  a  successor  to  Mr.  Gibbs 
should  be  sent.  But  nothing  hath  been  done  in  con- 
sequence of  this  order.  And  if  Mr.  Gibbs  be  not  in  low 
circumstances,  and  the  assistant  will  be  content  with 
part  of  the  salary,  that  will  be  the  better  scheme. 

Mr.  Read,  who  seems  to  be  a  very  prudent  worthy 
man,  hath  been  at  Oxford,  and  made  inquiry  concerning 
Mr.  Cooper,  whom  he  seems  desirous  to  have  at  New 
York  college,  and  probably  hath  written  to  you  con- 
cerning him.  His  character  in  the  university  is  very 
good  ;  and  he  hath  applied  himself  diligently  to  Hebrew 
this  year.  He  is  very  willing  to  come  to  you,  but 


186  APPENDIX. 

only  as  Vice-President.  You  will  consider  of  this,  and 
specify  what  you  can  afford  to  give,  unless  you  have 
heard  of  any  other  person.  I  can  hear  of  no  other. 

The  new  Bishop  of  London  (Dr.  Hayter)  is  a  very 
able,  and  active,  and  spirited  man,  and  hath  much  in- 
fluence with  some  who  have  influence  with  the  king.  I 
hope,  therefore,  that  he  will  be  very  useful  to  the 
colonies. 

Dr.  Bearcroft  is  dead,  and  we  have  chosen  Secretary 
Dr.  Daniel  Burton,  who  was  many  years  my  Chaplain, 
and  is  Chancellor  of  the  Diocese  of  Oxford,  and  Canon 
of  Christ  Church,  a  very  pious,  and  sensible,  and 
diligent,  and  careful,  and  disinterested  man ;  who,  I 
am  fully  persuaded,  will  give  entire  satisfaction,  both 
on  this  side  the  water  and  on  yours. 

We  receive  complaints  that  Rye  hath  been  vacant, 
and  without  the  administration  of  the  sacraments  for  a 
long  time.  But  I  think  we  have  had  no  request  to 
send  a  new  missionary  :  and  young  Mr.  Whetmore  tells 
us  that  the  Minister  must  be  chosen  by  the  Vestry. 
I  have  directed  our  new  Secretary  to  see  if  he  can  find 
any  thing  in  our  books  or  papers  about  this  matter. 
Old  Mr.  Wetmore  was  there  before  1727. 

Mr.  Craig,  missionary  at  Chester,  in  Pennsylvania, 
saith  that  as  he  was  appointed  by  the  Society  before 
the  people  petitioned  for  a  new  Minister,  they  are  very 
backward  in  complying  with  any  reasonable  terms.  He 
is  coming  over  for  his  health,  by  which  means  we  shall 
hear  more  particulars,  and  settle  whether  he  shall  re- 
turn to  them  or  not. 

I  have  not  learnt  yet  what  has  become  of  Mr.  Camp, 
since  his  return  from  the  south.  Mr.  Lindsay,  mis- 


APPENDIX.  187 

sionary  at  Trinity  Bay,  Newfoundland,  hath  left  his 
mission,  and  seems  too  much  confused  and  disordered 
in  his  head  to  be  fit  for  any  other.  I  am  told  from  the 
newspapers  that  good  Dr.  Cutler  is  dead.  Mr.  James 
Greaton  was  ordained  last  year  for  his  curate,  with  a 
view  of  making  him  his  successor  if  proper. 

The  Convention,  which  met  in  Philadelphia  in  May, 
1760,  sent  word,  that  the  church  of  Newcastle,  in  that 
country,  was  grown  very  thin,  and  that  the  other  and 
more  numerous  (I  suppose  at  White-Clay)  had  refused 
to  receive  Mr.  Ross  for  their  missionary.  Pray  can 
you  tell  me  what  the  reason  of  this  is  ?  And  what  be- 
comes of  those  who  have  rejected  Mr.  Ross  ? 

Mr.  Moir,  in  North  Carolina,  sends  over  large  ac- 
counts of  multitudes  baptized  by  him.  At  the  same 
time  Governor  Dobbs  saith,  he  hears  Mr.  Moir  doth 
but  little,  and  doubts  the  truth  of  his  numbers.  Can 
you  give  me  any  information  about  this  matter? 

Mr.  Martin,  of  St.  Andrew's,  in  South  Carolina,  is 
come  over  hither,  and  hath  very  honourably  told  the 
Society  that  he  thinks'his  salary  of  thirty  pounds  a  year 
may  be  better  employed  by  them.  I  wish  we  had  more 
such  instances,  where  circumstances  will  allow  them. 
And  I  cannot  help  thinking  that  the  laity  of  our 
Church  abroad  are  not  so  liberal  to  their  ministers  as 
they  might  be,  and  as  those  of  other  denominations  are, 
but  lean  too  hard  upon  the  Society  :  in  which,  perhaps, 
their  ministers  sometimes  encourage  them,  or  connive 
at  them,  in  order  to  live  upon  better  terms  with  them. 
You  will  tell  me  whether  I  am  right  in  this  notion. 

A  strict  examination  hath  been  made  here  into  the 
state  of  our  Barbadoes  affairs,  which  appear  to  have 


188  APPENDIX. 

been  very  bad  for  many  years  past ;  and  a  new  com- 
mittee is  appointed  to  watch  over  them  more  diligently 
for  the  future.  At  the  head  of  this  committee  is  Dr. 
Drummond,  now  Archbishop  of  York,  a  man  of  very 
extraordinary  talents  for  business  of  all  sorts  :  and  I  am 
persuaded  that  we  shall  reap  great  advantages  from 
what  will  be  done. 

I  pray  God  to  bless  you,  good  Dr.  Johnson;  and  I 
beg  you  to  pray  for  your  loving  brother, 

THO.  CANT. 


Lambeth,  August  18,  1762. 
Good  Dr.  Johnson, 
The  bearer  is  Mr.  Cooper.  God  grant  he  may  prove 
a  proper  man,  and  useful  amongst  you.  I  am  not  able 
at  present  to  enlarge :  for  I  have  had  the  gout  near 
three  months  in  my  right  hand,  which  is  still  very  weak 
and  stiff;  and  it  hath  now  seized  my  left,  and  I  write 
in  great  pain.  Otherwise,  through  the  divine  mercy,  I 
am  well ;  and  I  hope  to  send  you  a  long  letter  soon. 
Dr.  Jay  will  tell  you,  so  far  as  he  knows,  for  he  doth 
not  know  the  whole,  what  difficulties  there  have  been 
about  the  collection  for  your  college.  I  think  the 
agreement  between  him  and  Dr.  Smith  a  very  right  one, 
and  beneficial  to  both  colleges.  Favour  Mr.  Cooper 
with  your  advice  about  every  thing ;  and  if  you  think 
he  is  going  wrong  in  any  respect,  either  in  his  method 
of  instruction  or  his  conduct,  tell  him  your  thoughts  in 
a  friendly  and  frank  manner,  supporting  him  amongst 


APPENDIX.  189 

others  at  the  same  time.     I  really  think  he  will  take  it 
well.     God  bless  you  and  your  society  in  every  thing. 
I  am  your  loving  brother, 

Tuo.  CANT. 


Lambeth,  October,  6,  1762. 
Good  Dr.  Johnson, 

I  am  fallen  again  into  my  old  fault  of  not  answering 
your  letters  regularly.  But  indeed  I  have  more  busi- 
ness here  than  my  declining  health  will  permit  me  to  go 
through  as  I  ought.  On  the  first  of  June  the  gout 
seized  my  right  hand,  and  disabled  me,  I  think,  for 
more  than  two  months,  from  subscribing  my  name  with 
it :  nor  is  it  well  yet.  When  it  grew  better,  my  left 
hand  was  attacked  ;  and  as  that  mended,  the  same  dis- 
temper laid  hold  on  one  foot  and  knee,  of  which  it  is 
now  in  possession,  not  without  threatening  the  other. 
But  God's  will  be  done.  I  hope  Mr.  Cooper  is  or  soon 
will  be  with  you,  and  will  answer  expectation.  I  gave 
him.  such  advice  as  I  could :  the  best  part  of  it  was, 
that  he  should  consult  you,  and  follow  your  direction 
in  every  thing.  I  promised  him  to  send  some  books 
after  him ;  and  they  were  carried  for  that  purpose  three 
days  ago  to  Dr.  Jay's  lodgings.  You  will  be  pleased  to 
tell  him  this,  and  to  add,  that  they  are  only  what  I  told 
him  they  would  be,  such  duplicates  from  among  my 
books,  good  or  bad,  as  I  could  spare  ;  for  I  have  lent 
the  rest  of  my  duplicates  to  my  Chaplains.  Dr.  Jay 
hath  undoubtedly  acquainted  you  with  what  hath  been 
done  for  the  two  colleges.  I  approved  the  proposal  of 
a  joint  collection,  as  the  best  way  for  both.  The  Lord 


190  APPENDIX. 

President  (Earl  of  Granville)  opposed  your  college 
very  strongly,  and  engaged  Lord  Egremont,  Secretary 
of  State,  to  take  the  same  side  ;  but  at  last  we  got  the 
better.  Dr.  Smith  hath  acted  very  honourably  and  dis- 
interestedly in  this  whole  affair;  and  was  well  contented 
with  my  procuring  twice  as  much  from  the  king  for 
New  York  college  as  for  Philadelphia,  because  the 
former  is  a  royal  foundation,  and  hath  no  other  patron. 
A  pamphlet  hath  been  sent  me  from  America,  entitled, 
"  The  real  Advantages  which  Ministers  and  People  may 
enjoy  by  conforming  to  the  Church  of  England,  faithfully 
considered  and  impartially  represented"  It  is  written  in 
a  ludicrous  manner,  yet  with  strong  virulence,  and  seems 
likely  enough  to  do  great  mischief.  Yet  surely  the 
dissenters  who  have  any  seriousness  cannot  approve 
such  a  method  of  writing  against  us  ;  at  least  they 
might  be  brought  to  disapprove  it  by  the  prudent 
use  of  very  mild  and  friendly  remonstrances,  setting 
forth  the  uncharitableness  of  such  treatment,  and 
the  injustice  of  such  representations.  With  the 
author  himself  stronger  expostulations,  yet  grave  and 
gentle  ones,  might  be  used;  begging  him,  with  fit  ex- 
pressions of  concern  for  him  on  some  of  the  more 
flagarant  enormities  of  his  pen,  to  consider  what  spirit 
he  is  of.  Some  good  persons,  who  are  not  of  our 
Church,  one  should  hope,  might  thus  be  brought  over 
to  take  part  with  us.  And  other  ways  of  answering,  I 
apprehend,  would  do  us  little  good,  but  perhaps  much 
harm.  The  American  facts  alleged  or  alluded  to  are 
so  many,  that  no  one  who  hath  not  been  a  good  while 
in  our  colonies  can  make  a  full  answer,  unless  more 
than  ordinary  pains  were  taken  to  furnish  him  with 

t 


A  I'l'l    N  Dl  X  . 


materials.  And  an  intemperate  answer  would  be,  and 
a  defective  one  might  be,  worse  than  none.  I  had  not 
an  opportunity  of  knowing  the  contents  of  this  pamph- 
let till  Dr.  Smith  was  gone  out  of  town  to  the  north. 


I  should  have  said  one  thing  more  about  the  pamphlet, 
which  is  more  material  than  all  the  rest,  that  wherein- 
soever we  are  justly  accused,  Clergy  or  people,  we 
should  own  it,  and  mend ;  which  is  the  only  good 
answer  in  such  cases.  The  Society  hath  not  met  since 
May.  I  have  been  ill,  and  the  Bishops,  the  Secretary, 
and  the  Treasurer  out  of  town.  In  the  mean  time  I 
have  paid  the  bill  of  five  hundred  pounds  from  your 
college  out  of  my  own  pocket.  And  I  think  I  have 
secured  from  the  crown  one  hundred  and  seventy 
pounds  for  the  damages  done  by  the  soldiers  to  Mr. 
Charlton's  glebe  on  Staten  Island.  I  hope  there  will 
not  fail  to  be  a  meeting  next  week.  Whether  I  shall 
be  able  to  go  to  it  is  very  doubtful.  But  at  least  I  pro- 
mise myself  that  I  shall  talk  over  matters  with  such  as 
can  go  ;  and  then  I  propose,  God  willing,  to  write  you 
another  letter :  for  there  are  several  particulars  in  yours 
of  last  April,  relative  to  Society  affairs,  yet  unanswered 
by  me.  But  I  must  go  no  further  at  present.  Only  I 
assure  you  that  no  one  hath  hitherto  intimated  to  me 
the  least  desire  of  the  office  of  Bishop  in  America  :  and 
that  I  am  entirely  of  your  opinion,  that  the  crown 
should  not  begin  with  Clergymen  already  settled  there. 
God  bless  you,  good  Dr.  Johnson.  Pray  for  your  loving 

brother, 

THO.  CANT. 


192  APPENDIX. 

Lambeth,  March  30,  1703. 
Good  Dr.  Johnson, 

I  thank  you  for  the  kind  condolence  which  you  ex- 
press in  your  letter  of  January  6.  I  was  then  in  a 
fresh  fit  of  the  gout,  and  have  another  upon  me  now. 
These  attacks  unfit  me  greatly  for  business,  else  I 
should  have  written  to  you  sooner.  As  Mr.  Beach  hath 
undertaken  to  answer  the  late  virulent  pamphlet,  I 
hope  he  will  do  it  in  such  a  manner  as  to  win  over  the 
more  moderate  of  the  dissenters  from  some  of  their 
prejudices  against  us,  and  shame  even  the  more  vehe- 
ment, by  a  good  example,  into  some  degree  of  mildness 
and  fairness.  My  meaning  was  not  to  intimate  that  I 
knew  the  name  of  the  writer,  but  only  to  signify  a  doubt 
whether  it  might  not  be  Dr.  Mayhew,  which  I  found 
some  persons  had  suspected.  I  knew  not  whether  Mr. 
Beach,  who  in  a  letter  some  time  ago,  mentioned  hi 
self  as  declining,  would  be  willing  to  undertake  such 
work,  and  therefore  had  intended  to  propose  it  to  M 
Apthorp,  of  whose  abilities  and  temper  the  Bishop  of 
Norwich  gives  me  the  highest  character.  But  I  am 
glad  your  information  came  time  enough  to  prevent  me, 
for  one  may  suffice. 
»  *  *  *  * 

Probably  our  Ministry  will  be  concerting  schem 
this  summer,  against  the  next  session  of  Parliament 
for  the  settlement  of  his  Majesty's  American  dominions ; 
and  then  we  must  try  our  utmost  for  Bishops.  Hither 
little  hath  been  said    to  them,  and  less  by  them,  o 
the  subject.     Our   dissenters,  however,  give  out  th 
contrary,  and  endeavour  to  raise  an  alarm.  God  prosper 
us  if  it  be  his  will. 


M'PENDIX.  193 

I  have  not  hoard  that  any  application  hath  boon  made 
for  a  Doctor's  degree  for  Mr.  Chandler  *,  but  shall  be 
ready  at  any  time  to  forward  one,  as  I  understand  from 
you  that  he  deserves  it  so  well. 

Dr.  Burton  will  write  to  you  concerning  the  several 
missions.  As  the  Society  had,  on  your  recommenda- 
tion, appointed  Mr.  Palmer  for  Rye,  and  sent  him 
notice  of  it,  before  Mr.  Punderson  was  named  on  the 
occasion,  we  cannot  change  the  appointment  without 
Mr.  Palmer's  consent.  I  shall  be  glad  if  he  consents 
voluntarily ;  but  we  must  not  press  him  against  his 
inclination.  The  people  at  Rye  may  refuse  him  if  they 
will,  and  take  the  maintenance  of  Mr.  Punderson  upon 
themselves,  and  we  shall  be  very  well  pleased. 

We  have  heard  nothing  directly  from  Hartford  yet. 
Whenever  a  fit  opportunity  offers,  we  shall  be  very 
desirous  of  doing  whatever  may  be  agreeable  to  you. 
And  I  assure  you  I  will  do  nothing  to  retard  your  re- 
tirement, beyond  expressing  my  wishes  that  you  would 
be  so  kind  to  your  college  and  to  Mr.  Cooper  as  to 
give  him  a  competent  time  for  becoming  and  showing 
himself  in  some  degree  proper  to  succeed  you. 

It  grieves  me  to  concur  in  postponing  any  of  the 

*  Dr.  Johnson  had  recommended  him  in  the  following  words,  in 
a  letter  of  January  6,  1762  :  "  We  are  told  here  that  Mr.  Chandler 
has  a  Doctor's  degree  at  Oxford,  which  seems  strange,  as  no 
application  was  ever  made  for  it,  and  as  Mr.  Cooper  thinks  he 
most  have  known  of  it  if  it  bad  been.  However,  I  wish  it  may  be 
done,  if  it  has  not ;  for  I  have  no  man  like-minded  with  him  in 
caring  for  the  interest  both  of  religion  and  learning,  or  hath  made 
so  good  proficiency  in  the  study  of  either,  or  is  likely  to  he  so  «-rr:it 
an  ornament  to  both." 


194  APPENDIX:. 

new  missions  which  you  would  have  us  establish.  But 
indeed  some  of  those  which  we  have  established  al- 
ready in  New  England  and  New  York  have  so  few 
members  of  our  Church  in  them,  and  there  are  so  great 
numbers  in  other  parts  destitute  of  all  instruction, 
whom  we  may  hope  to  secure  to  our  Church,  by  send- 
ing missionaries  to  them  before  other  teachers  get 
amongst  them,  I  mean  the  new  and  frontier  settlements, 
that  I  think  we  cannot  avoid  preferring  the  latter. 
Would  to  God  we  could  effectually  assist  both ;  but 
we  must  not  bring  ourselves  under  a  necessity  of 
making  another  collection  for  the  Society  soon.  In- 
deed it  must  be  put  off  some  years  the  longer,  on 
account  of  that  which  is  now  making  for  the  two 
colleges  ;  for  they  will  be  considered  as  akin  one  to 
the  other. 

I  told  you  that  I  thought  I  had  secured  one  hun- 
dred and  seventy  pounds  for  Mr.  Charlton's  damages 
on  his  glebe.  And  I  have  still  reason  to  believe  thai 
the  King  did  sign  a  warrant  for  that  sum  to  be  paii 
here  to  the  Society's  Treasurer.  But  remonstrances 
were  made  against  it  by  some  officer  through  whose 
hands  the  business  was  to  pass.  And  now  the  Secretary 
at  War  hath  written  to  Sir  Jeffry  Amherst  about  it,whose 
answer  is  in  these  words  :  "  The  case  of  Mr.  Charlton 
is  this,  that  he  really  suffered  by  the  encampment  of 
the  troops;  and  I  was  in  hopes  that  the  Assembly  of 
the  Province  would  have  considered  his  losses.  If 
that  doth  not  take  place,  I  shall  pay  him  out  of  the 
contingencies  in  the  manner  you  are  pleased  to  direct." 
This,  therefore,  I  hope  will  be  done.  I  hope  also  that 
Mr.  Charlton  will  lay  out  what  he  receives  upon  his 


APPENDIX. 

glebe  faithfully  and  prudently.  If  you  can  contri- 
bute to  his  doing  so  I  hope  you  will:  for  I  know  not 
how  to  contrive  that  the  money  may  be  paid  into  the 
hands  of  any  one  that  should  act  as  trustee  on  the 
occasion. 

I  must  not  omit  to  tell  you,  that  Mr.  Cooper,  in  the 
only  letter  I  have  had  from  him,  dated  December  2, 
1762,  expresses  in  the  strongest  manner,  his  sense  of 
the  numberless  civilities  and  acts  of  kindness  which  he 
saith  he  hath  received  from  you.  Continual  good  advice 
will  be  the  greatest  kindness  that  you  can  show  him. 

It  would  be  inconvenient  and  disagreeable  to  Mr. 
Beach,  and  not  desirable  in  itself,  to  have  a  formal 
controversy  raised  upon  this  wretched  pamphlet.  And 
in  order  to  avoid  it,  his  answer  may  be  anonymous, 
as  the  pamphlet  is  ;  or,  however,  he  may  signify  that  he 
doth  not  intend  to  take  notice  of  any  reply,  or  enter 
further  into  a  discussion  of  particulars  ;  his  principal 
view  being  to  convince  persons,  and,  if  it  may  be,  the 
writer  himself,  that  since  we  are  all  to  give  an  account 
of  every  idle  word,  and  no  denomination  of  Christians 
is  faultless,  and  mutual  charity  is  the  great  precept  of 
our  Saviour,  we  should  treat  all  religious  matters  with 
seriousness,  and  one  another  with  mildness  and  candour. 


I  am,  with  much  regard, 

Your  loving  brother, 

THO.  CANT. 


o  2 


196. 


APPENDIX. 


Lamlcth,  May  22, 1764, 
Good  Dr.  Johnson, 

Since  my  last  of  September  28,  1763, 1  have  been  fa- 
voured with  two  letters  from  you,  dated  October  20  and 
December  20.  The  first  did  not  seem  to  require  an  im- 
mediate answer  ;  and  about  the  time  that  I  received  the 
second,  the  gout  seized  both  my  hands  and  both  my 
feet.  It  made  several  attacks  on  my  right  hand,  and 
disabled  me  from  making  almost  any  use  of  it  for  two 
or  three  months.  I  am  now,  God  be  thanked,  nearly 
as  well  as  usual ;  and  have  received  all  the  pamphlets 
which  were  designed  for  me  from  America.  When  Dr. 
Mayhew's  Observations,  &c.  were  reprinted  here,  it 
was  thought  necessary  that  an  answer  to  them  should 
also  be  printed  here ;  which  was  done  before  the 
Candid  Examination,  and  Letter  to  a  Friend,  came  to 
my  hands.  A  hundred  copies  of  the  answer  were  sent 
by  the  Society  to  the  colonies  ;  and  I  hope  you  have 
had  one  of  them.  It  was  believed,  that  they  would  do 
no  harm  amongst  you,  and  might  do  some  good,  though 
the  Candid  Examination,  &c.  was  undoubtedly  suf- 
ficient for  your  part  of  the  world.  If  you  see  any  mis- 
takes in  the  Answer,  or  hear  of  any  objections  to  any 
part  of  it,  that  seem  to  be  material,  be  pleased  to  send 
an  account  of  them,  with  such  remarks  as  you  think 
proper.  I  have  Dr.  Mayhew's  Defence  of  his  Observa- 
tions. He  manifests  the  same  spirit  as  before,  and 
runs  out  into  many  things  of  but  little  consequence  to 
the  Society.  The  case  of  Mr.  Price  and  Mr.  Barrett, 
p.125,  &c,  is  new  to  me  ;  and  if  it  be  truly  represented, 


APPENDIX.  1<)7 

the  former  seems  to  have  been  blameable.  If  any  reply 
is  made,  I  hope  it  will  be  short  and  cool.  Some  angry 
dissenter  hath  published  a  pamphlet,  entitled,  "  The 
Claims  of  the  Church  of  England  seriously  considered,  in 
a  Letter  to  the  Author  of  an  Answer  to  Dr.  Mayhew" 
There  is  but  little  in  it  relative  to  the  Society,  and  no~ 
thing  that  requires  confutation. 

The  affair  of  American  Bishops  continues  in  suspense. 
Lord  Willoughby  of  Parham,  the  only  English  dis- 
senting Peer,  and  Dr.  Chandler,  have  declared,  after 
our  scheme  was  fully  laid  before  them,  that  they  saw 
no  objection  against  it.  The  Duke  of  Bedford,  Lord 
President,  hath  given  a  calm  and  favourable  hearing  to 
it,  hath  desired  it  may  be  reduced  to  writing,  and 
promised  to  consult  about  it  with  the  other  Ministers 
at  his  first  leisure.  Indeed,  I  see  not  how  Protestant 
Bishops  can  decently  be  refused  us,  as  in  all  pro- 
bability a  Popish  one  will  be  allowed,  by  connivance 
at  least,  in  Canada.  The  ecclesiastical  settlement  of 
that  country  is  not  made  yet,  but  is  under  considera- 
tion; and  I  hope  will  be  a  reasonable  and  satisfactory 
one.  Four  Clergymen  will  be  appo  i  nted  for  Florida, 
with  salaries  of  one  hundred  pounds  each  ;  and  four 
Schoolmasters,  with  twenty-five  pounds  each :  and  the 
Society  have  been  desired  to  provide  them.  This  I 
consider  as  a  good  omen ;  yet  much  will  depend  on 
various  circumstances,  and  particularly-on  the  opinion, 
or  persuasion  concerning  the  opinion  of  the  Americans, 
both  dissenters  and  Churchmen. 

The  Bishop  of  London  (Dr.  Osbaldiston)  died  last 
week.  Poor  man,  he  was  every  way  unequal  to  that 
station.  His  successor,  Dr.  Terrick,  is  a  sensible  and 


198 


APPENDIX. 


good  tempered  man,  greatly  esteemed  as  a  preacher, 
and  personally  liked  by  the  King,  as  well  as  favoured 
by  the  Ministry  :  therefore  I  hope  he  will  both  have 
considerable  influence  and  use  it  well.  He  was  Re- 
sidentiary of  St.  Paul's  Church  when  I  was  made  Dean. 
I  had  no  acquaintance  with  him  before,  but  we  have 
been  very  good  friends  ever  since,  and  I  doubt  not 
but  we  shall  remain  such,  and  consult  together  about 
American  affairs. 

We  must  not  run  the  risk  of  increasing  the  outcry 
against  the  Society,  especially  in  the  present  crisis, 
and  so  perhaps  lose  an  opportunity  of  settling  Bishops  in 
our  colonies,  by  establishing  two  or  three  new  missions 
in  New  England.  Our  affairs  are  not  to  be  carried  on 
with  a  high  hand ;  but  our  success,  if  we  do  succeed, 
must  arise  from  conciliating  the  minds  of  men :  and 
this  ought  to  be  laboured  very  diligently  abroad  as 
well  as  at  home. 

The  Society  hath  agreed,  in  pursuance  of  a  proposal 
made  by  Dr.  Smith,  to  establish  a  proper  number  of 
corresponding  societies,  with  an  agent  or  president  for 
each  of  them,  to  give  information  and  advice  concern- 
ing all  needful  affairs,  and  act  for  the  Society  in  all 
requisite  cases.  But  this  general  scheme  cannot  be 
brought  into  due  form  for  execution  till  we  see  whether 
Bishops  can  be  obtained,  and  how  many. 

The  Archbishop  of  York  is  very  active  in  our  busi- 
ness, as  well  as  able.  He  hath  brought  the  estate  of 
Codrington  college  out  of  a  most  lamentable  condition 
into  a  very  hopeful  one.  And  he  hath  done  a  great 
deal  with  the  Ministers  in  our  ecclesiastical  concerns. 
But  these,  and  particularly  what  relates  to  Bishops, 


APPENDIX.  199 

must  be  managed  in  a  quiet,  private  manner.  Were 
solicitors  to  be  sent  over  prematurely  from  America 
for  Bishops,  there  would  come  also  solicitors  against 
them :  a  flame  would  be  raised,  and  we  should  never 
carry  our  point.  Whenever  an  application  from  thence 
is  really  wanted,  and  become  seasonable,  be  assured 
that  you  will  have  immediate  notice. 

I  have  heardnothing  yet  of  Dr.  Barclay's  Defence, 
nor  hath  he  mentioned  to  me  the  propriety  of  a  degree 
for  Mr.  Chandler,  though  I  had  a  letter  from  him,  dated 
January  20.  I  desire  to  know  what  college  degree 
Mr.  Chandler  hath,  and  of  what  standing  he  is  in 
that  college,  and  the  same  of  Mr.  Caner. 

Concerning  the  other  particulars  in  your  letters  I 
presume  the  Secretary  hath  written  to  you,  and  there- 
fore I  shall  only  add,  that  I  heartily  pray  God  to  give 
you  every  blessing  needful  for  you,  and  earnestly  de- 
sire your  prayers  in  return,  for  your  loving  brother, 

THO.  CANT. 


Lambeth,  July  31,  1766. 
Good  Dr.  Johnson, 

I  am  very  much  ashamed  that  I  have  so  long  delayed 
to  answer  your  letters,  and  still  more  grieved  that  I 
cannot  do  it  now  to  my  own  satisfaction  or  yours.  It  is 
very  probable  that  a  Bishop  or  Bishops  would  have 
been  quietly  received  in  America  before  the  stamp  act 
was  passed  here.  But  it  is  certain  that  we  could  get 
no  permission  here  to  send  one.  Earnest  and  continual 
endeavours  have  been  used  with  our  successive  Mi- 


200 


APPENDIX. 


ulsters  and  Ministries,  but  without  obtaining  more 
than  promises  to  consider  and  confer  about  the  matter ; 
\vhich  promises  have  never  been  fulfilled.  The  King 
hath  expressed  himself  repeatedly  in  favour  of  the 
scheme;  and  hath  proposed,  that  if  objections  are 
imagined  to  lie  against  other  places,  a  Protestant 
Bishop  should  be  sent  at  least  to  Quebec,  where  there 
is  a  Popish  one,  and  where  there  are  few  dissenters  to 
take  offence.  And  in  the  latter  end  of  Mr.  Grenville's 
ministry,  a  plan  of  an  ecclesiastical  establishment  for 
Canada  was  formed,  on  which  a  Bishop  might  easily 
have  been  grafted,  and  was  laid  before  a  committee  of 
council.  But  opinions  differed  there,  and  proper  per- 
sons could  not  be  persuaded  to  attend;  and  in  a  while 
the  ministry  changed.  Incessant  application  was  made 
to  the  new  ministry:  some  slight  hopes  were  given, 
but  no  one  step  taken.  Yesterday  the  ministry  was 
changed  again,  as  you  may  see  in  the  papers ;  but 
whether  any  change  will  happen  in  our  concern,  and 
whether  for  the  better  or  the  worse,  I  cannot  so  much 
as  guess.  Of  late,  indeed,  it  hath  not  been  prudent  to 
do  any  thing,  unless  at  Quebec;  and  therefore  the 
address  from  the  Clergy  of  Connecticut,  which  arrived 
here  in  December  last,  and  that  from  the  Clergy  of 
New  York  and  New  Jersey,  which  arrived  in  January, 
have  not  been  presented  to  the  King.  But  he  hath 
been  acquainted  with  the  purport  of  them,  and  directed 
them  to  be  postponed  to  a  fitter  time.  In  the  mean 
while,  I  wish  the  Bishop  of  London  would  take  out  a 
patent  like  Bishop  Gibson's,  only  somewhat  improved  : 
for  then  he  might  appoint  commissaries,  and  we  might 
set  up  corresponding  societies,  as  we  have  for  some 


A  IT  KM)  IX.  1201 

time  intended,  with  those  commissaries  at  their  head. 
lie  appears  unwilling  ;  but  I  hope  lie  may  at  length  be 
persuaded  to  it.  Requests  have  been  made  to  me  and 
other  Bishops,  first  for  countenance,  then  for  contri- 
butions, to  Mr.  Wheelock's  Indian  school. 
********* 

THO.  CANT. 


Letter  from  Bishop  Terrick  to  Dr.  Johnson. 

*#****# 

I  feel,  as  sensibly  as  you  can  wish  me  to  do,  the  distress 
of  the  Americans  in  being  obliged,  at  so  much  hazard 
and  expence,  to  come  to  this  country  for  Orders :  but 
I  own  I  see  no  prospect  of  a  speedy  remedy  to  it. 
They  who  are  enemies  to  the  measure  of  an  Episcopacy, 
whether  on  your  part  of  the  globe  or  ours,  have 
hitherto  found  means  to  prevent  its  taking  place, 
though  no  measure  can  be  better  suited  to  every 
principle  of  true  policy,  none  can  be  more  consistent 
with  every  idea  I  have  formed  of  truly  religious 
liberty.  We  want  no  other  motives  for  declaring  our 
sentiments  and  wishes  on  the  subject,  but  what  arise 
from  the  expediency,  I  had  almost  said  the  necessity,  of 
putting  the  American  Church  upon  a  more  respectable 
plan,  by  the  appointment  of  a  Bishop.  But  whatever 
are  our  sentiments  or  wishes,  we  must  leave  it  to  the 
discretion  and  wisdom  of  government  to  choose  the 
time  for  adopting  that  measure.  Whether  we  shall 
live  to  see  that  day  is  in  the  hands  of  God  alone.  We 


202 


APPENDIX. 


wish  only  that  we  could  look  forward  with  pleasure  and 
enjoy  the  thought. 

Accept,  Sir,  my  best  wishes  for  every  thing  which 
may  contribute  to  your  health  and  happiness,  and  as- 
sure yourself  that  I  am,  with  great  truth  and  sincerity, 
Your  affectionate  brother, 

Ric.  LONDON. 


Letters  from  Bishop  Lowth  to  Dr.  Johnson. 


London,  May  3,  1768. 
Rev.  Sir, 

I  am  greatly  obliged  to  you  for  the  favour  of  your  let- 
ter, and  for  the  agreeable  present  with  which  it  was  ac- 
companied. I  have  read  your  Hebrew  and  English 
Grammar  with  much  satisfaction,  and,  I  think,  in  both 
parts,  it  is  as  clear  and  as  full  as  any  thing  I  have  met 
with  in  so  small  a  compass.  I  am  glad  to  find  that  the 
study  of  Hebrew  hath  made  a  beginning,  and  some  kind 
of  progress  in  North  America :  and  I  doubt  not,  that, 
having  been  so  well  introduced,  and  still  enjoying  the 
same  patronage  and  assistance,  it  will  continue  to  in- 
crease, and,  in  time,  flourish. 

I  am  really  not  qualified  to  give  you  my  opinion,  as 
you  desire,  of  Mr.  Parkhurst's  Lexicon.  I  never  have 
read  the  book,  and  my  time  has  been  otherwise  so 
taken  up  of  late,  that  I  have  not  been  able  to  examine 
it  sufficiently  to  form  a  proper  judgment  of  it.  The 
most  capital  book  \ve  have  iu  that  kind,  I  think,  is  Dr. 


APPENDIX.  203 

Taylor's  Hebrew  Concordance,  in  two  vols.  folio.  He 
goes  very  much  upon  the  same  principle  with  Mr. 
Parkhurst.  He  supposes  the  prime  idea  of  the  root  to 
be  carried  through  all  the  derivations;  and  is  often 
very  happy  in  tracing  it  through  its  several  progres- 
sions. 

As  I  think  you  will  be  glad  to  have  a  more  par- 
ticular account  than,  perhaps,  you  will  otherwise  meet 
with,  of  the  progress  of  a  very  great  and  important 
literary  undertaking,  I  send  you  some  copies  of  Dr. 
Kennicott's  last  Annual  Account  of  the  Collation  of  the 
Hebrew  MSS.  of  the  Old  Testament :  to  which  I  have 
added  a  few  copies  of  a  pamphlet  very  lately  published 
by  the  same  author;  which  is  generally  allowed  to  con- 
tain, and  to  set  in  a  clear  light,  an  indubitable  and 
very  striking  proof  of  the  expediency  and  real  utility 
of  the  above-mentioned  undertaking.  You  will  dis- 
pose of  these  among  your  friends,  as  you  please.  I  beg 
the  favour  of  you  to  send  a  copy  of  each  to  Dr. 
Chandler,  and  to  Dr.  Auchmuty,  together  with  the 
letter  directed  to  each  of  them,  which  I  take  the  liberty 
to  enclose  in  this  packet. 

I  beg  likewise  your  acceptance  of  a  small  Treatise 
on  English  Grammar ;  which  I  should  not  have  pre- 
sumed to  have  troubled  you  with,  had  I  not  seen  that, 
while  you  were  employing  your  pains  on  the  most 
ancient  and  important  of  the  learned  languages,  you 
did  not  think  the  cultivation  of  our  own  unworthy  of 
your  labours. 

As  to  the  great  and  important  design  of  an  American 
Episcopate,  I  see  no  immediate  prospect  of  its  being- 
carried  into  execution.  While  the  state  of  affairs, 


204 


APPENDIX. 


both  with  us  and  with  you,  continues  just  as  it  now  is, 
I  am  afraid  we  may  not  expect  much  to  be  done  in  it, 
I  sometimes  talk  over  these  matters  with  much  freedom 
with  your  worthy  son,  from  whose  agreeable  conversa- 
tion I  reap  much  advantage ;  as  I  receive  from  him  the 
best  information  of  every  thing  relating  to  the  affairs 
of  America.  It  will  give  me  great  pleasure  to  hear  by 
him,  from  time  to  time,  of  your  welfare  ;  and  that  you 
may  enjoy  all  health  and  happiness,  is  the  hearty  prayer 
of, 

Reverend  Sir, 

Your  most  obedient  humble  servant, 

R.  OXFORD. 

P.S.  Since  the  above  was  written,  I  have  procured 
four  copies  of  Dr.  Kennicott's  Account  for  the  year 
1766,  which  I  have  added  to  the  others,  the  rather,  as 
it  contains  a  curious  account  of  the  oldest  editions  of 
the  printed  Hebrew  Bible.  Be  pleased  to  observe,  that 
what  Dr.  K.  has  undertaken  is  to  collate  all  the  manu- 
scripts of  the  Hebrew  Bible  that  are  in  England ;  and 
to  procure  collations  of  the  best  MSS.  from  other  parts 
of  Europe,  as  far  as  his  subscription  shall  enable  him. 


London,  May  15,  1770. 
Rev.  Sir, 

I  take  the  liberty  of  troubling  my  good  friend,  your 
son,  with  the  conveyance  of  a  packet  to  you,  containing 
six  copies  of  Dr.  Kennicott's  publication  for  this  year, 
which  you  will  receive  with  the  greater  satisfaction, 
as  it  contains  a  complete  account  of  the  whole  nuclei- 


AIM'KNIHX.  20/> 

taking  of  tho  Collation  of  the  Hebrew  MSS.  of  the  Old 
Testament;  collecting  together  the  several  accounts 
before  published,  with  the  account  for  the  last  year; 
with  which  the  collation  is  closed.  It  remains  now  to 
digest  and  methodize  the  variations  collected,  for  an 
edition  of  the  Hebrew  Bible,  with  all  the  variations, 
which  are  exceedingly  numerous,  at  the  bottom  of  each 
page ;  in  which  important  and  laborious  work,  I  trust, 
he  will  not  want  proper  encouragement  and  support. 

As  I  am  particularly  obliged  to  Dr.  Smith,  Provost 
of  Philadelphia  college,  for  a  present  of  his  late  Sermon ; 
and  to  Dr.  Chandler,  for  his  Appeal  Defended ;  and, 
some  time  ago,  to  the  author  of  a  Vindication  of  the 
Bishop  of  LlandafFs  Sermon,  whom  I  have  lately  found 
to  be  Mr.  Inglis,  for  his  judicious,  well-written  pamph- 
let ;  I  beg  you  would  be  so  good  as  to  send  to  each  of 
those  gentlemen,  with  my  compliments,  a  copy  of  Dr. 
Kennicott's  Account.  I  suppose  Dr.  Inglis  is  settled 
in  North  America,  but  I  do  not  know. 

I  am,  with  the  greatest  regard  and  esteem, 

Reverend  Sir, 
Your  most  obedient  humble  servant, 

R.  OXFORD. 

P.S.  To  Dr.  Kennicott's  Account  I  have  added  six 
copies  of  his  Proposals,  just  come  from  the  press;  by 
which  you  will  see  in  what  train  that  great  undertaking 
is  at  present. 


'206'  APPENDIX. 

London,  May  16, 1771. 
Rev.  Sir, 

Though  I  have  nothing  at  present  in  the  literary  way 
to  communicate  to  you,  yet  I  cannot  omit  acknowledg- 
ing your  kind  letter  of  December  last.  Dr.  Kennicott 
goes  on  upon  the  plan  which  he  published  last  year. 
His  majesty,  in  consequence  of  the  general  recom- 
mendation of  the  Bishops,  has  been  pleased  to  give 
him  a  good  establishment ;  and  has  placed  him  in  a 
situation  the  most  proper  for  the  carrying  on  of  his 
great  work,  in  a  canonry  of  Christ  Church,  Oxford.  I 
wish  it  were  as  much  in  my  power  as,  were  there  an 
opportunity,  it  would  certainly  be  in  my  inclination, 
to  promote  your  useful  proposal  of  establishing  a 
Hebrew  Professorship  in  North  America.  We  must 
leave  to  God's  good  providence  this  and  many  other 
improvements  in  that  country,  and  I  doubt  not  of  their 
being  in  due  time  accomplished. 

With  sincerest  wishes  for  your  health  and  happiness, 
and  with  the  truest  regard,  I  am,  Rev.  Sir, 

Your  most  obedient  humble  servant, 

R.  OXFORD. 


Letter  from  Bishop  Lowth  to  Dr.  Chandler. 

Rev.  Sir, 

I  hope  you  will  have  the  goodness  to  excuse  my 
suffering  the  letter  with  which  you  favoured  me  a  year 
ago,  to  lie  by  me  so  long  unacknowledged.  The  rral  oc- 


AtMM.NDIX.  'JO? 

casion  of  ray  neglect  was  the  illness  by  which  I  was 
laid  up  almost  the  whole  of  last  summer.  I  intend- 
ed to  have  written  to  you  before  I  left  London ; 
but  I  was  taken  ill  here,  and  by  imprudently  attempt- 
ing a  journey  to  Oxfordshire,  in  order  to  be  ready  to 
attend  my  duty  there,  I  became  much  worse.  I  thank 
God  I  have  perfectly  recovered  from  this  very  danger- 
ous illness,  so  as  not  to  be  at  all  sensible  of  any  re- 
mains, or  bad  consequences  of  it. 

I  had  not  the  pleasure,  which  you  were  so  kind  as 
to  design  for  me,  of  seeing  Mr.  Moore.  I  suppose  he 
did  not  arrive  here  till  after  I  was  gone  into  the 
country.  I  do  not  know  whether  he  went  to  Oxford 
or  not ;  but  there  I  was  not  able  to  see  any  one  for 
many  months. 

I  am  in  a  long  arrear  of  thanks  to  you  for  many 
agreeable  and  valuable  literary  presents,  both  ecclesi- 
astical and  political.  In  the  first  place,  for  your  ex- 
cellent Vindication  of  the  Memory  of  Archbishop 
Seeker,  the  greatest,  the  best,  and  the  most  unexcep- 
tionable character  that  our  ecclesiastical  annals  have 
to  boast  of.  What  you  say  in  regard  to  me,  in  p.  47, 
is  perfectly  true.  If  I  had  been  consulted  in  order  to 
give  information,  I  should  have  added,  that  as  soon  as 
I  received  the  pamphlet,  I  went  immediately  to  the 
author,  and  expressed  to  him,  in  strong-terms,  my  dis- 
approbation of  the  thing  itself,  and  in  particular  of  his 
addressing  it  to  me,  whose  great  veneration  for  Arch- 
bishop Seeker's  memory  he  well  knew.  But,  in  truth, 
it  was  a  most  injudicious,  impotent,  and  contemptible 
attack ;  and  for  the  very  little  time  in  which  it  was 
taken  notice  of,  it  only  exposed  the  author.  The 


208  APPENDIX. 

pamphlet  which  you  have  answered,  was  received  here 
with  much  the  same  contempt,  but  with  somewhat  more 
indignation  ;  but  had  very  little  effect  in  answering 
the  author's  purpose.  It  was  disregarded,  and  suffered 
to  pass  without  animadversion,  and  I  think  rightly. 
The  case  with  you  was  very  different ;  your  neighbours 
were  not  so  well  informed,  and  you  have  done  very 
good  service  by  effectually  refuting  it. 

But  the  nation  in  general  is  highly  obliged  to  you 
for  your  three  political  pamphlets  ;  which,  I  am  sure, 
if  plain  reason  and  good  sense,  strongly  and  forcibly 
urged,  and  placed  in  the  clearest  light,  can  meet  with 
any  attention,  must  have  had  a  great  effect,  as  indeed 
I  hear  they  have;  and  I  hope  so  essential  a  service  will 
not  be  forgotten. 

And   now,  Sir,  what  shall  I  say  to  you  upon  this 
great  and  important  subject?    I  need  not  enter  into  it 
very  largely,  for  I  can  give  you  my  opinion  in  a  very 
few  words.     Mr.  Vardill  did  me  the  favour,  very  lately, 
of  communicating   to  me   a  letter   of  yours  to   him, 
dated  in  March.     My  sentiments  in  regard  to  what  was 
then  doing,  and  what  was  fit  to  be  done,  coincide  most 
exactly  with  yours.     I  will  add  what  appears  to   rat- 
here,  and  at  this  time :  The  ministry  you  will  see,  are 
very  much  in  earnest,  and  the  nation  is  as  much  in 
earnest  as  they  are  ;  for  the  parliamentary  supremacy  is 
not  merely  the  ministerial,  but  the  national  cause,  and 
I  think  will  never  be  given  up  while  the  nation  has 
ability  and  strength  to  support  it.     At  the  same  time, 
there  is  a  strong  desire  of  reconciliation,  and  a  perfect 
readiness  to  £rant  the  colonies  easy,  liberal,  and  ge- 
nerous  terms,  in  properly  limiting  and  circumscril 
the  po\\d  ami  exercise  of  taxation. 


Al'l'KNDIX.  20!  > 

If  it  shall  please  God  that  these  unhappy  tumults  be 
quieted,  and  peace  and  order  restored  (which  event  I 
am  sanguine  enough  to  think  is  not  far  distant),  we  may 
reasonably  hope  that  our  governors  will  be  taught,  by 
experience,  to  have  some  regard  to  the  Church  of 
England  in  America.  *  ******  ** 

3£  ijt  9tf          4if.  -ijf  4lt          $•  *  &          &  ^          JL  &  tk.  4t 

But  it  will  be  time  enough  to  consider  what  ought  to 
be  done  when  so  blessed  an  opportunity  shall  offer 
itself. 

I  beg  your  acceptance  of  a  new  edition  of  my  Lec- 
tures, and  a  Sermon,  if  they  should  come  to  your  hands ; 
for  I  do  not  know  but  that  they  may  be  contraband 
goods,  and  non-importable.  However,  I  shall  with 
this  consign  them  to  the  care  of  my  friend  Mr.  Vardill, 
whose  conversation  and  information  on  the  subject  of 
America  has  been  of  great  service  and  satisfaction  to 
me. 

With  the  sincerest  regard,  and  the  highest  esteem,  I 
have  the  honour  to  be,  Rev.  Sir,  your  most  obedient 
and  affectionate  humble  servant, 

R.  OXFORD. 

London,  May  29,  1775. 


THE   END. 


Printed  by  R.  Gilbert,  St.  Jolin's  Square,  London. 


Works  published  by  C.  and  J.  Rivington. 

11.  AN  EXAMINATION  of  the  HYPOTHESIS  advanced 
in  a  recent  Publication  entitled  PAL^OROMAICA,  maintain- 
ing, in  Opposition  thereto,  that  the  Text  of  the  Elzevir  Greek 
Testament  is  not  a  Translation  from  the  Latin,  and  vindicating 
the  Originality  of  that  Text  which  is  preserved  in  the  Greek 
MSS.  of  the  Apostolical  Writings,  and  in  the  Works  of  the 
Greek  Fathers  collectively.     With  Observations  illustrative  of 
many  Words  in  less  frequent  Use  employed  by  the  Apostles, 
as  well  as  of  the  general  Character  of  their  Style.     By  the 
Rev.  W.  G.  BROUGHTON,  Curate  of  Hartley  Wespall,  in  Hamp- 
shire.     Dedicated,   by   Permission,   to  the  Lord  Bishop  of 
Winchester.     8vo.     9*. 

12.  The  BROAD  STONE  of  HONOUR  ;    or,  Rules  for 
the  Gentlemen  of  England.   Second  Edition,  enlarged.    12mo. 
9*.  or  enlarge  paper,  12s. 

13.  HORTUS  ANGLICUS;  or,  The  MODERN  ENG- 
LISH GARDEN  :  containing  a  familiar  Description  of  all  the 
Plants  which  are  cultivated  in  the  Climate  of  Great  Britain, 
either  for  Use  or   Ornament,   and  of  a  Selection   from   the 
established  Favourites  of  the   Stove  and   Green-house ;    ar- 
ranged according  to  the  System  of  Linnaeus ;  with  Remarks 
on   the   Properties  of  the   more   valuable    Species.     By  the 
Author   of  the  "  BRITISH   BOTANIST."       In   Two   Volumes, 
12mo.     165. 

To  the  admirers  of  a  garden  this  work  will  form  an  acceptable  present,  as 
containing  much  variety  of  useful  information ;  and  it  is  particularly  adapted  to 
the  botanical  student,  who,  having  pursued  the  research  of  English  plants, 
with  Smith  or  Withering  for  his  guide,  is  become  desirous  of  extending  his 
enquiries. 

"  This  work  is  calculated  to  diffuse  a  knowledge  of  ornamental  gardening 
and  taste  for  botanical  studies,  which,  indeed,  are  now  justly  considered  to  form 
an  essential  part  of  an  accomplished  and  scientific  education.  It  is  also  an 
easy,  intelligible,  and  compendious  guide  to  an  acquaintance  with  our  native 
plants.  The  descriptions  are  clear,  and  the  remarks  on  the  different  genera 
useful  and  interesting.  Along  with  an  account  of  each  species,  the  tune  of 
flowering,  the  native  country,  and  the  date  of  its  introduction  into  this  kingdom, 
are  stated." — Monthly  Censor. 

14.  The  NARRATIVE  of  a  JOURNEY,  undertaken  in 
the  Years  1819, 1820,  and  1821,  through  France,  Italy,  Savoy, 
Switzerland,  Part  of  Germany,  bordering  on  the  Rhine,   Hol- 
land, and  the  Netherlands ;  comprising  Incidents  that  occurred 
to  the  Author,  who  has  long  suffered  unto  a  total  Deprivation 
of  Sight ;  with  various  Points  of  Information  collected  on  his 
Tour.     By  JAMES  HOLMAN,  R.N.  and  K.W.    With  a  Portrait 
of  the  Author.     Second  Edition.  8vo.  13s. 


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